Re JS (Disposal of Body) [2016] EWHC 2859 (Fam)
March 2017 #167JS, a 14-year-old, terminally ill girl wanted to pursue cryonic preservation: the speculative and controversial scientific theory of freezing a dead body in the hope that resuscitation and a cure may be possible in the distant future. JS’s parents disagreed about what should happen.
JS’s parents were divorced. For most of JS’s life she had lived with her mother (M) and had no face-to-face contact with her father (F), who was also suffering from cancer, since 2008. M and F had a very bad relationship. M supported JS’s wishes.
At the start of proceedin...
Magiera v Magiera [2016] EWCA Civ 1292
March 2017 #167The parties were previously married. In 1990, they acquired a house in London in their joint names. In April/May 2014, the wife issued an application under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (‘TLATA 1996‘) seeking an order for sale of the house, together with an order that the net proceeds be distributed between herself and her husband in equal shares. The husband contested the jurisdiction of the English court to entertain the wife’s proceedings and applied for them to be dismissed or stayed. The wife argued that England and Wales...
Matchmove v Dowding & anr [2016] EWCA Civ 1233
March 2017 #167The appellant appealed a decision regarding the enforceability of an agreement to sell a piece of land through proprietary estoppel and constructive trust notwithstanding the absence of a written contract.
F, a property developer, was the moving spirit of the appellant (M). In 2002, F began negotiations with G for the purchase of a plot of land (the land) and a meadow (the meadow). F intended to divide the land into two plots. Plot 1 and plot 2 would be sold separately. G did not want to sell until he had planning permission, which was granted in 2003.
By late 2003, a ‘comm...
Park v Cho & ors [2014] EWHC 55 (Ch)
March 2017 #167In November 2007 the claimant stood for election as chairman of the Korean Residents Society (the ‘society’). He was unsuccessful and, the result of the election being disputed, commenced proceedings in the Queen’s Bench Division against the first and second named defendants acting on behalf of the society. The trial took place on 12 March 2008 at the conclusion of which Judge Mackie QC declared that the election had been conducted by the Election Committee in breach of the duties owed to the claimant, gave directions as to the conduct of a further election and ordered ...
The Royal Society v Robinson & ors [2015] EWHC 3442 (Ch)
March 2017 #167This was a claim to construe a will or, in the alternative to rectify it. Mr Michael Crowley-Milling (the deceased) died on 24 December 2012. His wife had pre-deceased him and he was survived by one niece, Mrs Lorna Joy Robinson and the children of his other niece (who had predeceased him) James Masterman and Rebecca Masterman (the next of kin). The deceased was a distinguished scientist and had decided to leave the bulk of his estate to the Royal Society.
The deceased left two wills: a Swiss will from February 2006 (the Swiss will) and an English will from October 2009 (the 2009 ...
Slattery v Jagger & ors [2015] EWHC 3976 (Ch)
March 2017 #167The claimants (the executors of the estate of Mr Jagger) applied for construction or alternatively rectification of the last will of Mr Jagger dated 10 June 2011 (the 2011 will). It was common ground that the 2011 will was valid and revoked an earlier will dated 5 April 2007 (the 2007 will).
Mr Jagger made the 2011 will following the death of two of his sons from his first marriage. It was professionally drafted. Under the 2007 will his second wife received a life interest in the matrimonial home. The 2011 will represented a departure from this intention.
The 2011 will cont...
Adepoju v Akinola [2016] EWHC 3160 (Ch)
March 2017 #167This is a claim relating to the estate of Medinat Bola Adepoju (the deceased) who died intestate in July 2015. The claimant is the daughter of the deceased and the defendant claimed to be a widower of the deceased.
While this was technically a probate claim, the issue between the parties in the short term was who should administer the estate. Each party feared that the other would favour themselves when administering the estate. The issue as to administration itself turned on whether the defendant and the deceased were validly married. The defendant argued that since he is the sur...
Investec & anr v Glenalla & ors [2017] WTLR 205
March 2017 #167The plaintiffs were the former trustees of the Tchenguiz Discretionary Trust (the ‘trust’), which had been established in Jersey by Declaration of Trust dated 26 March 2007 for the benefit of a class of beneficiaries comprising Robert Tchenguiz and his children a remoter issue. The Trust was funded initially by an appointment from the Tchenguiz Family Trust which had previously been established in the British Virgin Islands. Subsequently, the trustee of this trust entered into a loan agreement for borrowing of monies from Kaupthing Bank (the ‘bank’) and then made an appointment of assets...