Bathurst v Bathurst [2016] EWHC 3033 (Ch)
Summer 2017 #168This was an application under the Variation of Trusts Act 1958 to change a provision relating to the appointment of new trustees of a settlement. Following the death of the settlor, the statutory power under s36 Trustee Act 1925 applies. The variation proposed was that for the future, the principal beneficiary for the time being should have the power to appoint need trustees, with the written consent of the trustees for the time being.
All of the adult beneficiaries of the settlement, and three of the four current trustees supported the change. It was opposed by the fourth trustee...
British Red Cross v Werry [2017] EWHC 875 (Ch)
Summer 2017 #168Patricia Deeley (Miss Deeley) lived with her unmarried partner, Peter Harding (Mr Harding) in his flat at 87 Beckenham Lane, Bromley (the property) from 1962 to 2008. When Mr Harding died on 11 August 2008, it was believed (incorrectly) that he had not left a will and, therefore, the intestacy rules regulated the succession to his estate. Letters of Administration were granted to one of Mr Harding’s cousins, Maurice John Littlewood (Mr Littlewood) on 2 March 2010. An action brought by Miss Deeley under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (the 1975 Act) wa...
Cronin v De Hamel [2017] EWHC 454 (Ch)
Summer 2017 #168The Brindle Estate near Chorley belonged to Patience Aspinall, who died in 1985. The Estate passed to her sister Honour Ruth (‘Miss Aspinall’) as her executor and sole beneficiary. In the early 1990s, the Brindle Estate was subject to compulsory purchase for the construction of the M65 motorway over the northern part. By February 1994, the Department of Transfer had entered upon the land for the purpose of commencing construction. Miss Aspinall received interim payments on account of the compensation payable to her arising from construction of the M65, in particular, £46,727 in October 1...
Ilott v The Blue Cross & ors [2017] WTLR 533
Summer 2017 #168The testatrix (T) died in 2004 leaving an adult daughter (C) from whom she had been estranged for 26 years. C had left home aged 17 to live with her boyfriend (B), of whom T disapproved. B later became C’s husband and they had five children. At the time of T’s death, C and her family lived in straitened financial circumstances: they lived in a house rented from a housing association, were reliant on benefits save for the husband’s intermittent work as a supporting actor and could not afford new household equipment or family holidays.
During the lifelong estrangement there had been...
J v U; U v J (No. 2) Domicile [2017] EWHC 449 (Fam)
Summer 2017 #168The question before the court was, in the context of divorce proceedings between the petitioner and the respondent, whether either party to the marriage were domiciled in England and Wales. The respondent’s position was that neither were so domiciled, such that the divorce petition of the petitioner should be struck out for want of jurisdiction.
At the time of the proceedings the respondent was 72 years old. He was born in Mumbai, India. He moved to London with his family when he was 13 or 14. He studied in England, married and purchased a property in London, and pursued a ...
Littlewood v Morley [2015] CHP 66
Summer 2017 #168L applied pursuant to s8(1) of the Administration of Estates Act 1990 to remove M as her co-executor and co-trustee of the estate of their father. The beneficiaries of the estate were L (50 percent) and M’s two children (50 percent). The estate was modest including some personal chattels, a small bank account and a property worth circa £210,000.
M and his wife had issued a claim against the estate for £170,229, allegedly owed for nursing care provided to the deceased (the litigation).
L averred that M should be removed as trustee due to the ligation producing a clear ...
Pettigrew v Edwards [2017] EWHC 8 (Ch)
Summer 2017 #168Veronica Edwards (the deceased) died on 2 April 2003, and her will was proved by the claimants (as her executors and trustees) (the trustees) in October 2003. Under the will, the deceased left her residuary estate to the trustees pay the income to her fourth husband (the defendant) for life, and subject thereto, to the First and Second Claimants (who were also her sons by her first marriage) in equal shares. The residuary estate was valued at £521,897.53, and it included a promissory note signed by the defendant to the deceased in the sum of £100,000. This represented the value of a loan...
Revell v HMRC [2016] UKFTT 97 (TC)
Summer 2017 #168On 10 December 2014, HMRC purported to close an enquiry into the appellant’s self-assessment for the year 2008/2009 by making amendments to the return so as to increase the tax due for that year to £16,518.60. The appellant appealed this decision principally on the basis that HMRC had failed properly to serve on him a request to file a self-assessment return.
HMRC had carried out a reconciliation of the appellant’s PAYE records showing a significant underpayment. HMRC sent a self-assessment return to what it thought was the appellant’s last known address. He did ...
Trilogy Management Ltd v Harcus Sinclair [2016] EWHC 170 (Ch)
Summer 2017 #168This was an application by the defendant firm of solicitors (D) for the particulars of claim and reply to be struck out on the ground that they disclose no answer to the limitation defence or summary judgment dismissing the entirety of the claim on the basis that the claimant (C) has no real prospect of success because the claim is statute barred.
The proceedings arose out of a family dispute concerning a charitable trust (F) established by the deceased (OM). By his will OM left his shares in a Jersey investment company (JY) and in the trustee company of F (YT) to the executors an...
Twin Benefits v Meek [2017] EWHC 177 (Ch)
Summer 2017 #168This was an application by the claimant for an order for disclosure against a non-party under CPR r.31.17. The underlying action concerned a claim by the assignee of rights from the twin minor children of the first defendant (‘the twins’) concerning a compromise of earlier proceedings (‘the compromise’). The claimant alleged that neither the twins nor their mother was consulted about the compromise, and the compromise did not properly take account of the twins’ interests.
In the late 1990s the first defendant established an employee benefit trust (&#...