Re Stolkin; Greaves v Stolkin [2013] EWHC 1140 (Ch)
December 2013 #135The deceased testator, Leslie Stolkin, (T) had two sons from his marriage, the defendant Gary (G) and Mark (M). T divorced their mother in 1989. In September 1997 Pauline Greaves the claimant, (P), also divorced, moved in with T as cohabitant and became financially dependent on him. In 2001, T executed a will effectively leaving his entire estate to G, and also naming him as sole executor and trustee unless he died before T in which case M, a successful and wealthy businessman, would inherit . The will made no provision for P, but T left some notes directing that she was to receive regul...
Tociapski v Tociapski [2013] EWHC 1770 (Ch)
December 2013 #135The claimant and defendant are the two sons of Mr Igor Tociapski (the deceased), who died on 12 March 2010 and had made a will dated 20 June 2007 and a later will dated 13 May 2009 (the 2009 will). The 2007 will shared the estate between the two sons. The 2009 will gave the entire estate to the defendant. By a transfer dated 12 February 2010 (the transfer), the deceased gave to the defendant a property known as Hillcrest Cottage, in Northamptonshire.
The claimant sought to set aside the 2009 will on the grounds that the deceased did not know and approve its contents alternatively...
Travers Will Trust v HMRC [2013] UKFTT 436 (TC)
December 2013 #135PL Travers (PLT) was the creator of the fictional literary character of Mary Poppins. In 1960 PLT entered into an agreement with Walt Disney which assigned parts of her copyright in the character to him. In this agreement PLT undertook not to exploit her dramatic, TV or radio rights in relation to Mary Poppins without Walt Disney’s consent.
PLT died in April 1996, two years after she had made an agreement with a theatre production company (CML) which related to the grant of an exclusive copyright licence to stage a show based on her books (the 1994 agreement). This agreement provi...
Green v Astor & ors [2013] EWHC 1857 (Ch)
November 2013 #134The judgment concerned the costs of an application by the administratrix of the aforesaid estate (the Maitland Estate) pursuant to CPR, Part 64.2(a). Apart from two charities, there were six beneficiaries of the residuary estate under the will of the deceased. The first defendant, a beneficiary and formerly an executor, was the only of the defendants to oppose the application. The parties’ overall legal costs incurred up to and including the hearing were over £900,000, a staggering figure for an application of this kind, especially where the aspect of the estate in issue was worth ...
Jeffery v Jeffery [2013] EWHC 1942 (Ch)
November 2013 #134This was a retrial. The original trial in November 2012 was conducted in the absence of the defendant Andrew Jeffrey.
Daphne Jeffrey died in February 2010, aged 76, having divorced her husband David ten days before her death. She had two children – Nicholas and Andrew. She made a will in 2007 appointing Nicholas and Christopher Eyre (a friend left nothing in the will) as her executors and leaving her estate between Nicholas and Andrew’s three children. Prior to that she had made wills in 1982, 2002 and 2004. In 2008 she gifted two properties to Nicholas.
David and Daphne se...
McIntosh v McIntosh 1LU01921
November 2013 #134Kevin McIntosh (the deceased) died intestate on 13 September 2010 at the age of 34. He left a net estate of £333,564. He also left two pension scheme funds that were nominated, one in full to his estranged wife (the defendant) and the other as to 70% to the defendant and as to 10% to each of his younger brother Brian McIntosh (the claimant), his mother and his sister.
The claimant stated that the deceased had been maintaining him immediately prior to his death as he gave him monthly payments of £200 (which he spent on alcohol, cigarettes and petrol for his car). He had received t...
Pagel & anr v Farman [2013] EWHC 2210 (Comm)
November 2013 #134In 2001 Mr Pagel (P) and Mr Farman (F), set up a hedge fund. At first they shared responsibility for marketing and investment equally, but F began to concentrate on investing and P dealt with marketing and client relationships and F began to find the split unfair, so that from 2004 the 50/50 split was renegotiated and F received two thirds of the performance fees, but paid the cost of fixed employee bonuses and shared management fees 50/50 with P. Initially, both partners had to sign confirmations for all withdrawals but from autumn 2006 this only applied to amounts over £5,000. For a nu...
The Pollen Estate Trustee Co Ltd & anr v HMRC [2013] EWCA Civ 753
November 2013 #134The Pollen Estate Trustee Company (PETCL) held various London properties on trust for the beneficiaries of the Pollen Estate Trust (PET). Two of the beneficiaries of the PET were charities, being the Church Commissioners and Greenwich Hospital. From time to time PETCL bought and sold property. The appeal concerned four properties bought by PETCL on behalf of the PET between 2006 and 2008.
KCL is a charity. It operates a shared equity scheme under which it participates in the acquisition of homes for its employees in return for a share in the equity in the property proportionate to...
Rainbird & anr v Smith & ors [2012] EWHC 4276 (Ch)
November 2013 #134Doreen Gertrude Leader (the deceased) executed a will leaving the residue of her estate to her three daughters on the following terms:
‘I give my estate (including any property over which I may have general power of appointment or disposition by will) to my trustees upon trust…
(c) subject thereto hold the residue remaining and the income thereof (“my residuary estate”) UPON TRUST for such of them my daughters, the said JACQUELINE ANNE RAINBIRD JANET JONES of… and GWENDOLINE SMITH of… as shall survive me and if more than one in equal shares absolutely.’
J...
In the estate of Constance Rose Simon; Simon v Byford & ors [2013] EWHC 1490 (Ch)
November 2013 #134Mrs Constance Rose Simon died on 15 January 2009 at the age of 91. She was the widow of Mr R W Simon, with whom she had four children: namely Jonathan, Robert, Hilary and David. David predeceased his mother on 1 November 2004.
Mrs Simon’s estate consisted of her house in St John’s Wood, London (valued at £1.75m), a flat in Westcliffe on Sea (valued at £262,500), savings and shares (worth £55,000), some land in Malta and 16 shares in R W Simon Ltd (the company).
By Mrs Simon’s will dated 23 March 1978, she had left her entire estate to her four children i...