Boothman & ors v Horsford & anr [2022] WTLR 1
Spring 2022 #186The claim sought removal of the defendants as executors of the estate of James and Agatha Horsford, who were the parents of the claimants and defendants.
The mother had died in December 2011 and the father had died in January 2014. It was common ground that the father’s estate was not fully administered. The claimants said this was an unconscionable delay. It was also said that the defendants had not properly accounted for their executorship and there remained outstanding questions as to what constituted his estate and what had happened to the monies within it. The defendants were...
Brealey v Shepherd & Co [2022] WTLR 17
Spring 2022 #186The claimant applied for detailed assessment of the defendant’s costs incurred in the administration of a deceased’s estate under s71(3) of the Solicitors Act 1974.
Ann Brealey died on 15 April 2014. Her will left the claimant as the main beneficiary. It named her brother, Peter Hayward, and Robin Peter Shepherd, a solicitor, as the executors and trustees of her will. The executors instructed the defendant firm to administer the deceased’s estate. Mr Shepherd was one of the two partners in that firm. The defendant’s bills for the administration of the estate had ...
Brealey v Shepherd & Co (2) [2022] WTLR 27
Spring 2022 #186The proceedings concerned detailed assessment as part of a beneficiary’s challenge to the legal costs incurred in the administration of the estate of his late mother. The point of dispute considered in the judgment was the fees raised by one of the two executors, Mr Shepherd, who was a solicitor. It was common ground that the will did not contain a charging clause. Mr Shepherd relied on a number of arguments. He argued that his appointment was a personal one, irrespective of him being a solicitor, and that both executors were entitled to be reimbursed their expenses incurred in fair exec...
Brookman & anr v Potts & anr [2022] WTLR 37
Spring 2022 #186By his will dated 17 January 2011 (the will), Arthur Brookman (the deceased) appointed his wife, Sandra Brookman, together with her children and brother to be the executors and trustees. The deceased placed his beneficial half share in the matrimonial home at 49 Hemsby Road, Castleford (the property) in a discretionary trust for the benefit of a class of potential beneficiaries that included his wife, his children by a former marriage, his stepchildren and six named grandchildren. Subject to the power of appointment, the capital and income were held on trust for such of his children and ...
Brown v New Quadrant Trust Corporation Ltd & anr [2022] WTLR 49
Spring 2022 #186New Quadrant Trust Corporation Ltd (the trustee), a professional trustee corporation and trustee of a discretionary trust (the trust), decided to sell the trust’s shares in a company known as Lifetime Home Securities Ltd (LHS), such shares representing approximately 25% of the value within the trust. LHS had traded in home equity release arrangements but was then non-trading, with around 13 properties remaining on its portfolio and a remaining director who was 92 years old. The trustee considered that a sale of the shares was more tax efficient, would diversify the trust’s portfolio and ...
Da Silva v Heselton & ors [2022] WTLR 67
Spring 2022 #186The first defendant was an executor and trustee of the will dated 28 June 2001 (the will) of Gladys Dulcie Townsend (the deceased), who died on 1 July 2003 leaving property both in England and Wales and in Dominica. Probate of the will was granted to the first defendant and a solicitor out of the Winchester Probate Registry on 2 December 2004. The claimant, who was a residuary beneficiary under the will, brought a claim seeking the removal and replacement of the executors in December 2015. An order removing the first defendant by consent was made on 2 June 2016. The first defendant, who ...
Dunsby v HMRC [2022] WTLR 81
Spring 2022 #186Mr Mark Dunsby participated in a tax avoidance scheme devised and promoted by De Sales Promotions Ltd. As part of the scheme, in March 2013, Mr Dunsby had a company, of which he was sole shareholder and director, issue a non-voting share to a non-resident individual, Mrs Fiona Gower. Mrs Gower established a trust and settled the share in the trust, with the benefit of any dividends being for Mr Dunsby, and Mr Dunsby’s company paid £200,000 as a dividend in respect of the settled share. As a result of the scheme, Mr Dunsby received £195,400. HMRC issued a closure notice dated 31 March 201...
Equiom (Isle of Man) Ltd & ors v Velarde & ors [2022] WTLR 109
Spring 2022 #186Under a settlement made in 1974 by the deceased’s father, the deceased became the life tenant of a fund, over which property she had a power of appointment exercisable in favour of her children by deed revocable or irrevocable, or by will. In 1981, by a deed of appointment with effect from her death, the deceased appointed the fund between her three children. By a deed of revocation in 1997, expressed to be supplemental to the settlement and the 1981 deed of appointment, with effect from her death, the fund was appointed on trust for only two of her three children. The deceased made her ...
Heslop v Heslop & anr [2022] WTLR 137
Spring 2022 #186Mr Dudley Heslop issued two separate proceedings in England against his sister, Ms Mona Heslop, domiciled in England, and his other sister, Mrs Jennifer Seales, domiciled in Scotland. The proceedings concerned the equitable ownership of a property in Jamaica that had been purchased by the parties’ late mother in 2008. The parties’ mother had been domiciled in England from 1948 to 2015 when she moved to Scotland to live with Mrs Seales. In 2018, the parties’ mother passed away, leaving a will dated 13 March 2012 which purported to deal with the property. The proceedings issued by Mr Heslo...
Higgins v Morgan & ors [2022] WTLR 153
Spring 2022 #186The claimant, Mr Higgins, brought a claim for reasonable provision out of the estate of the deceased, under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (the 1975 Act), in his capacity as a person who, although not a child of the deceased, was treated by the deceased as a child of the family, within the meaning of s1(1)(d) of the 1975 Act. Mr Higgins’ mother had married the deceased when he was aged nine, and he had continued to reside with the deceased after his mother and the deceased divorced, at which time the deceased had been gr...