Bainbridge v Bainbridge [2016] EWHC 898 (Ch)
July/August 2016 #161The claimants, who were father and son, farmed together in partnership Seamer Grange Farm. They were advised to place this property in trust and that there would be no capital gains tax chargeable on the transfer. The first claimant, who held the legal title, transferred the partnership land to the trustees of a discretionary trust which was created by a trust deed dated 24 June 2011. Unfortunately, the advice which they had been given was incorrect; capital gains tax was exigible on the transfer, amounting to more than £200,000 plus interest and possible penalties. The claimants and def...
Clayton v Clayton [2016] NZSC 29
July/August 2016 #161Mr and Mrs Clayton were married in 1989, had two daughters who were born in 1990 and 1994, separated in 2006 and were divorced in 2009. By the time of the separation Mr Clayton had built up a significant saw milling and timber processing business, which operated from land and buildings in Vaughan Road, Rotorua. By declaration of trust dated 14 June 1999 (VRPT) Mr Clayton settled the land and buildings, with himself as sole trustee, on discretionary trusts for the benefit of a class of beneficiaries that included Mr Clayton as ‘principal family member’, Mrs Clayton as his wife or former w...
Edwards-Moss & anr v HMRC [2016] UKFTT 147 (TC)
July/August 2016 #161This appeal concerned the estate of Lady Edwards-Moss (the deceased) who died on 8 February 2007. The executors of her estate appealed against a determination under s221 IHTA 1984. HMRC argued that the liability arose on two alternative bases. First, the transfer of a freehold farm in return for an annuity on 23 January 2007 (very shortly before her death) was ineffective (either on the basis that it was legally ineffective or under the reservation of benefit rules). Alternatively, this was a transfer at an undervalue, and therefore a transfer of value on which an IHT liability arose on ...
Kebbeh v Farmer [2015] EWHC 3827 (Ch)
July/August 2016 #161Malcolm Mitchell (the deceased) died on 26 September 2011 in Gambia. By his final will dated 5 May 2006 he divided his estate between his three daughters equally, subject to minor pecuniary bequests. The will left no provision for his second wife, Haddy Kebbeh (the claimant). The claimant brought a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (the Act). The defendants claimed that the deceased died domiciled in Gambia, and that the claimant therefore had no claim pursuant to s1(1) of the Act.
The deceased had moved to Gambia in 1994 when he built hims...
Purrunsing v A’Court [2016] EWHC 789 (Ch)
July/August 2016 #161The claim arose from a purported sale of a property to the claimant by a fraudster who purported to be, but was not in fact, the registered owner of the property. By the time the fraud was discovered the whole of the purchase price had been paid by the claimant to the second defendant (the claimant’s conveyancer), by the second defendant to the first defendant (the fraudster’s solicitor) and by the first defendant to an account in Dubai upon the fraudster’s instructions.
The fraudster’s instructions to the first defendant were that the property had been given to him by his father,...
Swift v Ahmed [2015] EWHC 3265 (Ch)
July/August 2016 #161Mr Ahmed (the first defendant) claimed to have purchased a property known as ‘High Elm’ in his sole name in 1995. In 1996 Mr Ahmed and his wife Mrs Ahmed (the second defendant) executed a deed which purported to record that Mr Ahmed held on trust for Mrs Ahmed all the significant assets that he owned, including High Elm. The proprietorship register in respect of High Elm showed that Mr Ahmed had become the registered proprietor in November 2006 (which Mr Ahmed did not accept, but was unable to explain), and that at the same time he had granted a first charge over High Elm in ...
Williams v Martin
July/August 2016 #161Joy Williams brought a claim for reasonable financial provision under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 against the estate of her deceased partner Norman Martin. Her claim was brought both on the basis that for a period of two years before Mr Martin’s death she had been living in the same household with him as his wife (s1(1)(ba)) and alternatively on the basis that she was wholly or partly maintained by the deceased (s1(1)(e)).
At the date of his death Mr Martin remained married to his wife Maureen Martin, though they had been separated from 199...
Hood [2016] UKFTT 059 (TC)
June 2016 #160Lady Hood was the lessee of the property in Chelsea (‘the property’) pursuant to a lease (‘the head lease’) dated 21 September 1979 and made between (1) Viscount Chelsea (‘the head lessor’) (2) the Chelsea Land & Investment Company Limited (‘Chelsea land”); (3) Cadogan Holdings Company (‘Cadogan’) and (4) Lady Hood. The head lease contained a covenant by the lessee not to transfer underlet or part with possession of part of the demised premises without consent of Cadogan. The head lease also contained a right for the head lessor or the Company to forfeit the head lease for breaches o...
In the matter of F Trust –
June 2016 #160The applicants, three trustees of the F Trust and the A Settlement (the trusts), applied, pursuant to s47A of the Trustee Act 1975 and/or the inherent jurisdiction of the Court, to set aside deeds of appointment and retirement of trustees executed in 2005 and 2008, respectively, to the extent that they appointed the first defendant as a trustee.
The F Trust and the A Settlement were established in Bermuda with the same corporate trustee in 1958 and 1968 respectively. Individual trustees were subsequently appointed. The first defendant, a British resident, was appointed in 2005 (by...
Smith v Herbert [2014] EWHC 4177 (Ch)
June 2016 #160The claimant was, together with his sister and brother, a beneficiary entitled to an interest in possession in land comprised within the Edmondsham Estate (children’s property) by virtue of a deed of appointment made in 1979 in exercise of a power contained in a settlement dated 17 March 1965 created by the late TAH Medlycott. Each life tenant was given power to settle his or her share on trust for such one or more of his or her children in such shares as should be appointed by deed or will. In default of appointment, each life tenant’s children were entitled to the capital i...