Re The Sir Edward Heath charitable trust
October 2012 #123By his will dated 16 April 2002, the late Sir Edward Heath settled his home and contents, Arundells at Salisbury, upon charitable trusts. The trustees had power to apply income and capital to or for the benefit of one or more of six charitable objects, but no express power of sale save in furtherance of the charitable objects. In the years since the will was proved on 18 January 2006, annual deficits had been incurred by the trustees on opening Arundells to the public and, even after the sale of Sir Edward Heath’s papers, the balance available after eliminating the overdraft could ...
Trustees & anr v Capmark Bank [2011] EWCA Civ 380
October 2012 #123The appellants were the trustees of the Maylands Unit Trust (the trustees), a Jersey-based unit trust formed as a vehicle for the acquisition of warehouse premises in Hemel Hampstead (the property) by Cantabria Investments Ltd (Cantabria). The purchase price of the property was £28.1m, funded by £7.1m of Cantabria’s own resources and a £21m loan from Capmark Bank Europe (the bank) and secured on the property. The security was created by a deed of guarantee and debenture (the debenture) between the trustees and the bank. At the time of the purchase of the property it was subject to ...
Charity Commission v Catholic Care (Diocese of Leeds)
October 2012 #123The charity is an organisation working on behalf of the Catholic diocese of Leeds. It provides a number of services to the community at large to promote the relief of poverty and distress. One such service, previously offered, was a voluntary adoption agency that sought to place children with families resembling the Holy Family of Nazareth, ie heterosexual spouses.
A temporary exemption for faith-based adoption agencies from the prohibition on discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation ceased on 31 December 2008. The charity’s adoption service therefore suspended fr...
Hughes & ors v Bourne & ors [2012] EWHC 2232 (Ch)
October 2012 #123Eric Lionel Thomas (the settlor) settled a trust (the 1961 settlement) by deed dated 27 June 1961 (the 1961 deed). The principal asset of the 1961 settlement was a controlling interest in NWN Media (the company), a family owned newspaper publishing company that published local newspapers in Wales, Chester, Shropshire and Herefordshire. The trustees of the 1961 settlement (the trustees) were given powers by the 1961 deed to sell shares with the consent of the settlor during his lifetime and thereafter at their discretion. In addition, the 1961 deed gave the trustees the powers of appropri...
Re Lehman Brothers Intl (Europe) [2010] EWCA Civ 917
October 2012 #123Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (LBIE), an English unlimited company, was the principal European trading company in the Lehman Brothers group. LBIE entered administration on 15 September 2008. The administrators made several applications to the court for directions.
The issues on appeal concerned the application of chapter 7 of the Client Assets Sourcebook (CASS 7) issued by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). CASS 7 was intended to transpose the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive 2004/39/EC (MiFID) and its Implementing Directive into English law, under the FSA’...
Re Longman (dec’d) [2012] EWHC 666 (Ch)
October 2012 #123Mrs Elizabeth Longman (D) died on 18 April 2008, leaving the residue of her estate equally to six charities if they were in existence at the date of her death. One of the six was the International Bible Society (UK) (IBS). When the will was made, IBS was an unincorporated association, but it had incorporated in May 2007 by transferring all its assets to a new charitable company, IBS-STL Ltd. Clause 6.3 of D’s will (see para [2] of the judgment below) provided that if one or more of the named charities merged or ceased to exist her trustees could pay its share of the residue to a...
Page & anr v Hewetts Solicitors & anr [2012] EWCA Civ 805
October 2012 #123The claimants (P) were the beneficiaries under their parents’ will. The first respondents Hewetts, solicitors (H) were retained to advise and act for P in the administration of their parents’ estates. The second respondent, Christopher Fuller (F) was employed by H as a legal executive. F was instructed by P in 1998 in relation to a sale of P’s parents’ property. Unknown to P at the time, F carried on business as a property developer through Exnine Developments (E) and recommended that P sell the property for £190,000 to Sahana Enterprises Ltd (S), which had agreed...
Scott v Scott [2012] EWHC 2397 (Ch)
October 2012 #123The claimant (Andrew) and the defendant (Martin) were brothers. They were the trustees of a trust created in 1991 by their mother (Elizabeth Scott). Andrew, Martin and Simon Jackson QC (a long standing friend of Elizabeth Scott) were the principal beneficiaries of the trust. There were other discretionary beneficiaries. Andrew had carried out the day to day administration of the trust since 2006.
The trust had formerly comprised a farm of 60 acres and a nursing home. Significant distributions were made. Andrew carried out significant works to a property known as the Barn, which wa...