In the matter of an application for information about a trust [2013] CA (BDA) 8 CIV
May 2015 #149This was an appeal from a judgment of the Chief Justice dated 12 March 2013 and his subsequent order of 24 April 2013 which required the trustees of a trust to produce financial information to a beneficiary of the trust who was interested in 35% of the trust fund (the minor beneficiary). This appeal was brought by the appointed protector of the trust who was also the principal beneficiary of the trust.
The trust deed contained an information control mechanism (clause 9.2 of the trust deed) which prevented the disclosure of financial information to a beneficiary unless the prot...
Kicks v Leigh [2014] EWHC 3926 (Ch)
May 2015 #149Joyce Smith (Mrs Smith) lived at 49 Home Close, Wolvercote, Oxford (property). She had two daughters, the late Norma Kicks who died in January 2004, and the defendant. After her daughter’s death, Mrs Smith changed her will (will) in February 2008 and gave her entire net estate to the defendant, whom she had appointed sole executrix and trustee, to hold as to 50% for the defendant and 50% equally between Mrs Smith’s four grandchildren. The claimants were the two children of the late Norma Kicks. Mrs Smith’s health began to decline from November 2008. The defendant and her husband, who liv...
National Westminster Bank v Lucas [2014] EWCA Civ 1632
May 2015 #149Jimmy Savile died in October 2011. His will dated 24 July 2006 named NatWest as his executor and left the residue of his estate to the Jimmy Savile Charitable Trust (the trust) which he had created in 1984. Probate was obtained on 8 March 2012 with a net estate of £4.3m. The bank placed s27 Trustee Act adverts on 5 January 2012.
Following an ITV programme broadcast on 4 October 2012 accusing Mr Savile of being a serial sex offender, NatWest began to receive letters from potential claimants seeking compensation from the estate. NatWest quickly appreciated that the estate c...
Re Trusts (Guernsey) Law, 2007; the AAA Children’s Trust; the Trustees WTLR 683
May 2015 #149The application concerned a trust, (the Children’s Trust) which, along with another trust (Trust 3), were discretionary trusts settled by the settlor for the benefit of his widow (R1), their children and their future issue. Trust 3 operated principally for the benefit of R1 and the Children’s Trust principally for the benefit of the children. The Children’s Trust had two protectors, P1, the settlor’s sister, and P2, the settlor’s business associate. The application was made by the trustees of the Children’s Trust (A1, A2 and A3 (the trustees)) to bless...
University of London v Prag & anr [2014] EWHC 3564 (Ch)
May 2015 #149This decision concerned the construction of a trust deed dated 28 November 1944 (the deed) made between Eric Max Warburg on behalf of the Warburg family, Viscount Lee of Fareham on behalf of the Warburg Society, and the University of London (UOL). There arose questions about the scope of the deed, the ownership of property, the status of funding and the propriety of the administration by UOL under the deed. UOL brought a construction summons to determine these questions at the behest of HM Attorney General (the second defendant). The first defendant was Professor John Prag, of the Univer...