Freedman v Freedman & ors [2015] EWHC 1457 (Ch)
September 2015 #152In 2001 the claimant purchased a house (St Leonard’s Close) with the assistance of a loan from her father. In 2004-5 the claimant’s father agreed to forego the loan. In 2010 the claimant moved out of St Leonard’s Close and into rented accommodation. The claimant wished to buy a different house (Gibbs Green) but she had difficulty selling St Leonard’s Close. Her father therefore agreed to lend her sufficient funds to cover the purchase price of £525,000 and the acquisition costs of £5,000 in respect of Gibbs Green. The claimant’s father made clear, and the claimant agreed, that this was a...
King v The Chiltern Dog Rescue & anr [2015] EWCA Civ 581
September 2015 #152June Margaret Fairbrother (deceased) lived at 12 Kingcroft Road, Harpenden (property) with a number of cats and dogs, of which she was very fond, as she had no children. It was common knowledge within her family that she intended to leave her estate to animal charities which she supported. By a will dated 20 March 1998 (last will) the deceased left her residuary estate to seven such charities (charities). The claimant, who was a nephew, came to live with the deceased, when she was 78 years old, in the summer of 2007. The arrangement was that he would care for his aunt in return for a hom...
Reading & anr v Reading & ors [2015] EWHC 946 (CH)
September 2015 #152John Reading died on 6 July 2005. He left a will dated 30 January 2004. He was survived by his wife, Janet; his two children, Stuart and Sally; and his three stepchildren, Neil, Ruth and Robin Sedgwick.
Under the will, Mrs Reading and Richard Flack were appointed trustees of a nil-rate band discretionary trust. The clauses of the will setting out the trusts of the nil-rate band trust included the testator’s ‘issue’ in the beneficial class. There was provision for such issue to be born at the testator’s death or thereafter during the trust period. Mrs Reading and Mr Flack brought a...
Seals & anr v Williams [2015] EWHC 1829 (Ch)
September 2015 #152The claimants had brought proceedings under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 for reasonable financial provision out of the estate of their late father, Arnold Seal. The sole executrix and beneficiary of the estate was the defendant. Related proceedings had generated considerable acrimony with the result that the parties’ positions were in danger of becoming entrenched. An attempt at mediation had largely stalled and the legal representatives of the parties proposed as a way forward that the court undertake an early neutral evaluation of the case.
<...Sharp v Hutchins [2015] EWHC 1240 (Ch)
September 2015 #152Mr Butcher was born on 4 October 1939. He lived alone in a bungalow at 42 Russell Road, Enfield, London. He had no surviving parents and no children. He was close to his only sibling, Yvonne Butcher, with whom he lived. She died in 2002. Mr Butcher died on 5 May 2013 aged 73. He left a net estate worth £482,295.00. He was in good physical and mental health at the time of his death.
It was likely that in 1991 Mr Butcher had made a will which left his estate to Yvonne. In 2003, he made a new will following her death (‘the 2003 will’). He did so without the involvement of any profess...
Vaughan-Jones & anr v Vaughan-Jones & ors [2015] EWHC 1086 (Ch)
September 2015 #152The claimants were the executors of the will of the deceased dated 8 September 2000 whereby his residuary estate passed to his widow and three sons in equal shares absolutely. The first defendant was the deceased’s widow and the first claimant and second and third defendants were his sons.
Under the will, inheritance tax would be payable on the estate in respect of land and farming assets which did not qualify for agricultural property or business property relief on the three quarters of the residuary estate which had passed to the deceased’s sons. The beneficiaries decided that t...
Kousouros v O’Halloran & anr [2014] EWHC 2294 (Ch)
July/August 2015 #151The claimant (K) and second defendant (A) are brother and sister. They are the children of George Kousouros (D) who died in Cyprus in March 2007 leaving a large house in Islington (the property) where he had lived with K prior to returning to Cyprus in 2000 and which also provided a rental income. According to K, who still lives there and takes the rental income, D transferred the property to him in 2001 on terms which included a payment to A of £50,000 and pursuant on the oral terms his parents executed a deed of transfer of the registered title to the property in form TR1 which A was a...
P v P [2015] EWCA Civ 447
July/August 2015 #151A husband and wife met in 1999 and married in 2003. They had one child together, of primary school age at the time of the proceedings. In 2005 the husband and wife moved into a farmhouse owned by the husband’s parents. In 2009 the husband’s parents settled the farmhouse on a discretionary trust for the benefit of their children and remoter descendants. Subject to the power to appoint the capital and income to the discretionary beneficiaries, the farmhouse was held on trust to pay the income to the husband for life, and it was declared that the making of any land comprised within the trus...
Public Guardian v SR & NC [2015] EWCOP 32 (Fam)
July/August 2015 #151MC was born on 8 October 1937. Her husband died in 2004. She had two children: a son (NC) and a daughter (SR) aged 54 and 49 respectively.
On 12 June 2009, MC executed a lasting power of attorney (LPA) for property and affairs appointing NC and SR jointly and severally as her attorneys. The LPA was registered on 24 September 2009.
In October 2011, MC made a will leaving 95% of her estate to SR and the remaining 5% to NC. In March 2013, SR placed MC’s house on the market. NC suspected that SR was mismanaging MC’s affairs and on 22 April 2013 entered a restriction...
Scott v Southern Pacific Mortgages Limited & ors [2014] UKSC 52
July/August 2015 #151The appeal arose from one of what were originally ten test cases in which the defendant home owners (the vendors) were persuaded to sell their properties to purchasers (the purchasers) who promised the vendors the right to remain in their homes after the sale. The purchasers bought the homes with the assistance of mortgages from lenders (the lenders), who were not given notice of the promises to the vendors. Neither the rights of occupation promised by the purchasers to the vendors nor the tenancies granted by the purchasers were permitted by the lenders’ mortgage. Exchange of contracts ...