The Vegetarian Society v Scott [2013] EWHC 4097 (Ch)
April 2014 #138This was a contentious probate action against all five of the wills of a schizophrenic testator. While he had benefitted from a stable and conventional childhood, the deceased had sustained serious injuries at the age of nineteen in a serious bicycle accident. He soon after succumbed to the symptoms of severe schizophrenia and logical thought disorder, from which he suffered for the remainder of his lifetime. His modes of living were unconventional. He lived alone on the fringes of society, and despite his considerable wealth, he lived in basic, if not squalid conditions. While it was ac...
Wagstaff & anr v HMRC [2014] UKFTT 43 (TC)
April 2014 #138During 1990 Mr Wagstaff’s mother (Barbara) bought a flat for herself to live in (the flat). On 6 January 1996 she sold the flat to the appellants for £45,000. It was agreed that this was an arm’s length price. The sale was subject to the terms of an agreement of the same date (the agreement). The agreement provided that Barbara was entitled to continue to live at the flat at no cost until her death or remarriage, subject to a payment of £5,000.
Barbara continued to occupy the property until August 2005 when an accident meant she could no longer do so. After some time ...
Agarwala v Agarwala [2013] EWCA Civ 1763
April 2014 #138The appellant (Jaci) and the respondent (Sunil) were sister and brother-in-law respectively. This case related to the beneficial ownership of a property which Sunil had identified as a business opportunity (for Sunil to run as a B&B). Due to Sunil’s poor credit rating, the property was purchased in Jaci’s name via a mortgage, also in her name. Both parties agreed that there was an express oral agreement between them as to the terms on which the property was bought and held. The terms of that agreement were disputed and each party argued that they owned the beneficial inte...
Haider v Syed
April 2014 #138This was a challenge to the purported will of Mrs Naseem Syed Khan (the deceased) on the basis that it was a forgery. The deceased died on 17 July 2008. Mr Jafar Ali Khan (Mr Khan) was the deceased’s husband. Mr Khan had survived the deceased and had taken out letters of administration in respect of her estate on the basis that she had died intestate. Mr Khan died on 8 January 2011 leaving a will dated 2 September 2010.
Mr Syed Ali Haider (the claimant) was the deceased’s nephew. Mr Mehdi Hassan Syed (the defendant) was the sole executor and main beneficiary of the la...
Best v HMRC
April 2014 #138The appellant was the executor of Alfred Buller. On Mr Buller’s death there was a transfer of value of 25,000 shares in Bullick Developments (1986) Ltd (the company). The company owned and managed the Valley Business Centre (the business centre). HMRC determined pursuant to s221 Inheritance Tax Act 1985 (the IHTA 1985) that the shares in the company were not relevant business property for the purposes of s104 IHTA 1984, having regard to s105(3) IHTA 1984, which prevents inter alia shares in a business whose activities mainly or wholly consist of ...
Buzzoni v HMRC [2013] EWCA Civ 1684
April 2014 #138On 5 June 1996 Mrs Kamhi purchased a lease (the headlease) of a flat in Knightsbridge, London. On 21 November 1997 Mrs Kamhi granted an underlease (the underlease) to Ovalap Nominees Ltd. The underlease was granted without rent or premium being payable. On the same day Mrs Kamhi created by deed a settlement. The trustee was Legis Trust Ltd and the trust property was the underlease. Ovalap entered into the underlease as bare nomiee for Legis Trust Ltd.
On 24 March 2004 Parkside (Knightsbridge) Residents Ltd then granted Mrs Kamhi a new lease over the flat commencing 1 April 2003. ...
Kevern v Ayres & anr [2014] EWHC 165 (Ch)
April 2014 #138Raymond Ayres deceased died intestate on 4 June 2008. The claimant is the deceased’s sister and the first defendant his wife.
As the deceased left no issue, his estate devolved according to the intestacy rules. Accordingly, his chattels and a statutory legacy of £200,000 went to the first defendant absolutely and the remainder of his estate was divided equally between the claimant and first defendant.
In these circumstances, the first defendant intimated a claim for reasonable financial provision from the deceased’s estate. Given the potential for post-death i...
Manchester City Council v G & ors [2011] EWCA Civ 939
April 2014 #138This is an appeal from a judgment of Baker J [2010] EWHC 3385 (Fam) making an award of costs at the conclusion of long-running proceedings in the Court of Protection. The costs related to an interim hearing lasting eight days from January through to March, and, following judgment on 26 March 2010 ([2010] EWHC 621 (Fam)), a further hearing on 6 May 2010. In respect of costs, the judge said:
‘In all the circumstances, I conclude that this is a case for departing from the general rule set out in r157 of the Court of Protection Rules, and I make an order in the follo...
Re McKeen [2013] EWHC 3639 (Ch)
April 2014 #138The main action was a contentious probate dispute in which the defendant, who was the younger sister of the deceased, sought to overturn all of his five wills on the grounds of lack of testamentary capacity. The deceased had suffered from severe schizophrenia throughout his lifetime. The claimants were the residuary legatees of his final will, entitling them to the lion-share of the deceased’s considerable estate. In his main judgment, the judge accepted that the deceased’s condition was severe. He acknowledged that this placed the burden of proof on the claimants to establis...
Page & anr v Hewetts [2013] EWHC 2845 (Ch)
April 2014 #138The claimants were the administrators of their parents’ estates and they had engaged the defendants (a firm of solicitors and one of the firm’s legal executives) to advise them in the administration. The claimants commenced proceedings against the defendants for breach of duty and dishonestly procuring a secret profit in relation to the sale of the principal asset of the estate. Believing the matter to be time barred, the defendants made an application for summary judgment. The court allowed this application and dismissed the claims on the basis of expiration of the limitatio...