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 (&#...
Watt v ABC [2016] EWHC 2532 (COP)
Summer 2017 #168ABC was awarded £1.5m in settlement of personal injury proceedings in the QBD. ABC executed a revocable personal injury settlement in January 2015 to receive interim payments of damages and to preserve his entitlement to state funded care. In June 2015 the applicant was appointed by the Court of Protection to be ABC’s deputy, on the basis that he lacked capacity to manage his property and affairs. There were difficulties and issues relating to the extent of ABC’s capacity which had arisen in the context of the QBD proceedings, but had not been resolved. The deputy made an app...
Investec & anr v Glenalla & ors [2017] WTLR 205
March 2017 #167The plaintiffs were the former trustees of the Tchenguiz Discretionary Trust (the ‘trust’), which had been established in Jersey by Declaration of Trust dated 26 March 2007 for the benefit of a class of beneficiaries comprising Robert Tchenguiz and his children a remoter issue. The Trust was funded initially by an appointment from the Tchenguiz Family Trust which had previously been established in the British Virgin Islands. Subsequently, the trustee of this trust entered into a loan agreement for borrowing of monies from Kaupthing Bank (the ‘bank’) and then made an appointment of assets...
Re JS (Disposal of Body) [2016] EWHC 2859 (Fam)
March 2017 #167JS, a 14-year-old, terminally ill girl wanted to pursue cryonic preservation: the speculative and controversial scientific theory of freezing a dead body in the hope that resuscitation and a cure may be possible in the distant future. JS’s parents disagreed about what should happen.
JS’s parents were divorced. For most of JS’s life she had lived with her mother (M) and had no face-to-face contact with her father (F), who was also suffering from cancer, since 2008. M and F had a very bad relationship. M supported JS’s wishes.
At the start of proceedin...
Matchmove v Dowding & anr [2016] EWCA Civ 1233
March 2017 #167The appellant appealed a decision regarding the enforceability of an agreement to sell a piece of land through proprietary estoppel and constructive trust notwithstanding the absence of a written contract.
F, a property developer, was the moving spirit of the appellant (M). In 2002, F began negotiations with G for the purchase of a plot of land (the land) and a meadow (the meadow). F intended to divide the land into two plots. Plot 1 and plot 2 would be sold separately. G did not want to sell until he had planning permission, which was granted in 2003.
By late 2003, a ‘comm...
Park v Cho & ors [2014] EWHC 55 (Ch)
March 2017 #167In November 2007 the claimant stood for election as chairman of the Korean Residents Society (the ‘society’). He was unsuccessful and, the result of the election being disputed, commenced proceedings in the Queen’s Bench Division against the first and second named defendants acting on behalf of the society. The trial took place on 12 March 2008 at the conclusion of which Judge Mackie QC declared that the election had been conducted by the Election Committee in breach of the duties owed to the claimant, gave directions as to the conduct of a further election and ordered ...
The Royal Society v Robinson & ors [2015] EWHC 3442 (Ch)
March 2017 #167This was a claim to construe a will or, in the alternative to rectify it. Mr Michael Crowley-Milling (the deceased) died on 24 December 2012. His wife had pre-deceased him and he was survived by one niece, Mrs Lorna Joy Robinson and the children of his other niece (who had predeceased him) James Masterman and Rebecca Masterman (the next of kin). The deceased was a distinguished scientist and had decided to leave the bulk of his estate to the Royal Society.
The deceased left two wills: a Swiss will from February 2006 (the Swiss will) and an English will from October 2009 (the 2009 ...