Rathbone Brothers Plc & anr v Novae Corporate Underwriting Ltd & ors [2014] EWCA Civ 1464
March 2015 #147Rathbone Brothers plc (Rathbone) was a substantial international group whose trust business included the management of family trusts for wealthy clients. Mr Egerton-Vernon (EV) was an employee of, and subsequently a consultant to, its subsidiary, Rathbone Trust Company Jersey Ltd (Trust Company). He was entitled to an indemnity from Rathbone and the trust company for liabilities arising from the performance of his services as a personal trustee of the Walker Trust to a limit of £40m. Rathbone took out insurance for itself and its subsidiaries (including the trust company) with AIG, which...
Roadchef (Employee Benefits Trustees) Ltd v Hill & ors [2014] EWHC 3109 (Ch)
March 2015 #147The claimant was an Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) created by a company as part of a scheme to encourage employee share ownership. The mechanics of the scheme were that the EBT borrowed funds from a bank which it used to purchase shares in the company, with the loan being secured by a charge on the shares and guaranteed by the company. A separate share participation scheme (SPS), financed through funds provided by the company, purchased shares from the EBT which it then transferred to beneficiaries of the scheme (being employees of the company) in accordance with directions provided by the...
Williams v Seals & ors [2014] EWHC 3708 (Ch)
March 2015 #147The deceased, Mr Seals, (D) committed suicide on 10 December 2013. He was depressed following his wife’s death from cancer in August 2010. However, the mental health team who saw him in September and November 2012 did not identify any major disordering mental illness. After his wife’s death D renewed a childhood friendship with the applicant Mrs Williams (B) and letters he wrote to her suggested a considerable degree of emotional dependence upon her. On 12 May 2011 he made a will using B’s solicitors and appointed her his executrix. He left her all his property and assets. At the same ti...
Wright v Waters & anr [2014] EWHC 3614 (Ch)
March 2015 #147The claimant was Patricia Wright who made a claim against the estate of her mother Mary Waters. Mrs Waters died on 29 December 2010 leaving an estate worth £138,000.
Mrs Waters had two children – Patricia and David. Patricia (a widow) has one child Victoria and two grandchildren. Patricia suffers from numerous medical conditions and is wheelchair bound. Her outgoings exceed her income.
David married Susan and has four children.
Mrs Waters made a will in January 2009 leaving legacies of £5000 to each of David’s children, £7,000 between her sister-in-law and a niece an...
Lim v Walia [2014] EWCA Civ 1076
January/February 2015 #146Jocelyn Walia died on 25 March 2011 aged 38. She had married Mr Walia in July 2003 and they had a daughter Emma-Kaur in November 2004.
In 21 May 2002, they bought a fixed-term life insurance. On the first death the survivor would be paid the sum insured. On proof of one of the life insured was suffering a terminal illness then the payment was brought forward and then no death benefit would be payable.
After they separated Mrs Walia moved to the Philippines and had a son Philip Lim in July 2009. In February 2011 she was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Mrs Walia died i...
Oates & anr v HMRC [2014] UKUT 0409 (LC)
January/February 2015 #146Mr and Mrs Oates (the appellants) were taxpayers who had sold their home together with a substantial piece of scrub land with development potential for £725,000. The gain on the sale of the appellants’ home and garden was exempt under s222 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 (TCGA) but capital gains tax was payable on the land. Section 52(4) TCGA required the apportionment between the value of the land and the house to be on a ‘just and reasonable basis’ however no method is laid down in the legislation to assess this.
The appellants did not appear at t...
Randall v Randall [2014] EWHC 3134 (Ch)
January/February 2015 #146The claimant and defendant, who were divorced, had disposed of their claims for financial provision in their divorce proceedings by a consent order which included the provision that, in the event that the defendant received any property and/or monies from her mother by way of inter vivos gifts and/or inheritance, the defendant would retain the first £100,000 of the sum of any such gifts and/or inheritance and the balance would be divided equally between the defendant and the claimant.
The defendant’s mother died. The deceased’s estate was valued at approximately £250,000, giving t...
Seesurrun & anr v HMRC [2014] UKFTT 783 (TC)
January/February 2015 #146The appellants appealed against decisions by the respondent that income of certain non-UK entities (including settlements established in the Isle of Man) could be attributed to them pursuant to s739 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 (ICTA), which concerns the prevention of avoidance of income tax by individuals ordinarily resident in the UK by means of transfer of assets abroad.
The appellants owned three companies which carried on the trade of providing residential care to the elderly in the UK (the UK companies). The UK companies operated from four properties in the U...
Southwell v Blackburn [2014] EWCA Civ 1347
January/February 2015 #146In 2002, the appellant and the respondent set up home together in a house in Droitwich. They remained unmarried. The property was purchased in the appellant’s sole name with his money alone, and he took on sole responsibility for the mortgage. On the breakdown of their relationship, the respondent claimed that the appellant held the property was held by him on constructive trust for both parties in equal shares. That claim failed before His Honour Judge Pearce-Higgins QC, but her alternative proprietary estoppel claim succeeded. The respondent was awarded £28,500 in satisfaction of the e...
The Woodland Trust v Loring & ors [2014] EWCA Civ 1314
January/February 2015 #146The Woodland Trust brought this appeal on the basis that the Chancery Court judge at first instance had not determined the construction of a will correctly. The matter involved the estate of Valerie Smith who died in 2011 leaving a will executed on 2 February 2001 which left her residuary estate (totalling £680,805), to her family (the respondents) and the Woodland Trust. The relevant clauses for construction were clauses 5 and 6. Clause 5 stated as follows:
‘MY TRUSTEES shall set aside out of my residuary estate assets or cash of an aggregate value equal to such sum as is at the ...