Herring v Shorts
September 2016 #162The deceased (J) died on 2 June 2012, a widow with no children or close relatives. On 8 November 2011 J executed a will (the will) drafted by a solicitor (W). She made a number of pecuniary legacies including legacies of £54,000 each in favour of the claimants.
An employee of the defendant, (S), had been J’s financial advisor since 2000. In 2011, prior to executing the will and acting on S’ advice, J formed two trusts in the claimants’ favour to mitigate inheritance tax payable on her death. One was a discretionary trust naming the claimants sole discretionary b...
Re The K Trust Guernsey Judgment 31/2015
September 2016 #162The settlor established a discretionary settlement (K Trust) under the laws of Guernsey in 1990. The protector, who was the first respondent, and the original trustee were friends and advisors of the settlor. B1, who was the first applicant, married the settlor in 1991 but they did not have any children. When the settlor died in 2001, B1 was the only beneficiary of the K Trust. She requested that consideration be given to adding some of her relatives as beneficiaries. The second respondent (who had replaced the original trustee in 2002), with the consent of the protector, added B1’...
Re RM [2016] EWCOP 25 (Fam)
September 2016 #162In 2014 Roy and his wife had each executed a Lasting Power of Attorney (‘LPA’) for property and financial affairs in which they appointed their spouse, son (Philip), and daughter (Sue) jointly and severally to be their attorneys and an LPA for health and welfare in which they appointed Sue to be their sole attorney. Roy’s wife died in August 2015 following which the Office of the Public Guardian (‘OPG’) received a complaint about Sue’s conduct and opened a formal investigation. A Court of Protection (‘CoP’) general visitor visited both Roy ...
Randall v Randall [2016] EWCA Civ 494
September 2016 #162This appeal concerned when a party has standing to bring a probate claim. The appellant (H) and respondent (W) were divorced. As part of the divorce settlement, they agreed that if W were to inherit more than £100,000 from her mother, she would keep the £100,000 and the balance would be split equally between H and herself. On her death, W’s mother left £100,000 to W in her will and (after some small specific legacies) the balance of her estate (estimated at £150,000) to W’s children.
H brought a probate claim to challenge the validity of the will alleging that it was n...
TM v AH [2016] EWHC 572 (Fam)
September 2016 #162The wife applied to join the trustees of the A trust and the B trust as parties to the litigation between the husband and wife. The husband was the settlor of both trusts. At one point husband and wife had been beneficiaries. They have now been irrevocably excluded from benefit. The wife was applying to vary both trusts.
One trust was subject to BVI jurisdiction and the other to the jurisdiction of the Swiss courts. The trustees of each trust were not submitting to the jurisdiction, and were intending to apply to the foreign courts for directions as to what to in respect of the l...
In the matter of the Baronetcy of Pringle of Stichill UKPC 16
September 2016 #162This was a referral to the Privy Council under s4 of the Judicial Committee Act 1833, under which the Queen can refer matters to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council for advice. On this reference, the Privy Council was asked to advise as to (i) who was entitled to be entered on the Official Roll of the Baronetage as the Baronet of Pringle of Stichill; and (ii) whether DNA evidence resulting from the obtaining of a DNA sample from the tenth baronet (Sir Steuart Robert Pringle) in late 2009 or early 2010 should be admitted in order to determine the first question.<...
Collins v Collins [2016] EWHC 1423 (Ch)
September 2016 #162Anthony Collins (settlor) had three children by his marriage to Valerie Collins, namely Rachel who was born in 1989, Michael who was born in 1991 and Charley who was born in 1998 (children). The settlor was entitled to a whole life policy with Allied Dunbar (policy) and, during the course of divorce proceedings, gave an undertaking to the court to execute a declaration of trust in favour of the children on terms to be agreed between the parties. The settlor did not comply with the undertaking because he did not seek the agreement of Valerie Collins to the terms of any trust. Instead, by ...
Re D [2016] EWCOP 35
September 2016 #162This was an appeal of an order allowing an applicant (I) for an order authorising her to execute a statutory will to be released from the obligation to serve the papers on someone entitled to a half share of the estate on intestacy and who would be disinherited if the statutory will was executed.
D was 30 and lived with his mother, I. D had cerebral palsy resulting from complications at birth and had been awarded damages of £3.1m in an action for clinical negligence. I was D’s deputy for property and affairs.
D’s father (F) had no contact with D for over 20 ye...
Davies v Davies [2014] EWCA Civ 568
September 2016 #162The appeal concerned a proprietary estoppel claim by the respondent, Eirian, with respect to her parents’ pedigree dairy farm.
Eirian’s claim was precipitated by the fact that her parents had sought to evict her from the farmhouse where she was living. Eirian had worked on Henllan during lengthy periods of her adult life. There were a number of arguments between Eirian and her parents which had, on occasion, led to Eirian temporarily leaving the farm. During one such period she worked as a technician for a company called Genus, which specialised in livestock reproduction services....
Heer v Singha [2016] EWCA Civ 424
September 2016 #162This was an appeal against a declaration that H held only 50 per cent of the beneficial interest in the property. The property was registered in the name of S, the former husband of the respondent.
H and S were childhood friends who had formed a partnership for acquiring properties together in around 1998. H claimed that in 2001 he and S had agreed that H would provide funds to S to aid S to purchase the property, to be repaid within five years. The legal ownership was to be in S’s name only but H was to be the sole beneficial owner until he was repaid in full. Two documents...