Littlewood v Morley [2015] CHP 66
Summer 2017 #168L applied pursuant to s8(1) of the Administration of Estates Act 1990 to remove M as her co-executor and co-trustee of the estate of their father. The beneficiaries of the estate were L (50 percent) and M’s two children (50 percent). The estate was modest including some personal chattels, a small bank account and a property worth circa £210,000.
M and his wife had issued a claim against the estate for £170,229, allegedly owed for nursing care provided to the deceased (the litigation).
L averred that M should be removed as trustee due to the ligation ...
Newman v Clarke [2016] EWHC 2959 (Ch)
Summer 2017 #168On 20 December 1996 the first defendant settled £150,000 on an accumulation and maintenance trust for the benefit of inter alia the second and third claimant (‘the settlement’). On 11 April 1997 a lease of a certain property was granted to the first defendant. This lease was capable of being enfranchised under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 (‘the 1967 Act’) such as to enable the first defendant to obtain the freehold interest in the property. On 19 June 1997, the freehold reversion of the lease was sold to the original trustees of the Settlement. On 25 June 1997, t...
O’Keefe v Caner [2017] EWHC 1105 (Ch)
Summer 2017 #168This was a trial of the preliminary issue of whether claims made by the joint liquidators of two Jersey-incorporated companies against the respondents were time-barred as a matter of Jersey law.
In the proceedings, the applicants claimed that between 10 April 2007 and 10 June 2008 payments were made of €16m and €18m from ‘Level One’ and ‘Special Opportunity’ respectively, to or for the benefit of the first respondent or companies owned beneficially by him. Those payments were claimed not to have been made in good faith for a legitimate commercial purpose of the companies, and the ...
Pettigrew v Edwards [2017] EWHC 8 (Ch)
Summer 2017 #168Veronica Edwards (the deceased) died on 2 April 2003, and her will was proved by the claimants (as her executors and trustees) (the trustees) in October 2003. Under the will, the deceased left her residuary estate to the trustees pay the income to her fourth husband (the defendant) for life, and subject thereto, to the First and Second Claimants (who were also her sons by her first marriage) in equal shares. The residuary estate was valued at £521,897.53, and it included a promissory note signed by the defendant to the deceased in the sum of £100,000. This represented the value of a loan...
Revell v HMRC [2016] UKFTT 97 (TC)
Summer 2017 #168On 10 December 2014, HMRC purported to close an enquiry into the appellant’s self-assessment for the year 2008/2009 by making amendments to the return so as to increase the tax due for that year to £16,518.60. The appellant appealed this decision principally on the basis that HMRC had failed properly to serve on him a request to file a self-assessment return.
HMRC had carried out a reconciliation of the appellant’s PAYE records showing a significant underpayment. HMRC sent a self-assessment return to what it thought was the appellant’s last known address. He did ...
Trilogy Management Ltd v Harcus Sinclair [2016] EWHC 170 (Ch)
Summer 2017 #168This was an application by the defendant firm of solicitors (D) for the particulars of claim and reply to be struck out on the ground that they disclose no answer to the limitation defence or summary judgment dismissing the entirety of the claim on the basis that the claimant (C) has no real prospect of success because the claim is statute barred.
The proceedings arose out of a family dispute concerning a charitable trust (F) established by the deceased (OM). By his will OM left his shares in a Jersey investment company (JY) and in the trustee company of F (YT) to the executors an...
Akers & ors v Samba [2017] UKSC 6
Summer 2017 #168Mr Al-Sanea was the legal owner of shares in five Saudi Arabian banks, including Samba Financial Group (appellant). As a result of six transactions between 2002 and 2008 Mr Al-Sanea agreed to hold the relevant shares in trust for Saad Investments Co Ltd (SICL), a company subject to the laws of the Cayman Islands. Compulsory winding up proceedings of SICL commenced on 30 June 2009 and, six weeks later, Mr Al-Sanea in breach of trust transferred the legal title to the relevant shares to the appellant, purporting thereby to discharge personal liabilities which he had towards it. On 19 Augus...
Twin Benefits v Meek [2017] EWHC 177 (Ch)
Summer 2017 #168This was an application by the claimant for an order for disclosure against a non-party under CPR r.31.17. The underlying action concerned a claim by the assignee of rights from the twin minor children of the first defendant (‘the twins’) concerning a compromise of earlier proceedings (‘the compromise’). The claimant alleged that neither the twins nor their mother was consulted about the compromise, and the compromise did not properly take account of the twins’ interests.
In the late 1990s the first defendant established an employee benefit ...