Guest & anr v Guest [2023] WTLR 431

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2023 #191

A father made repeated promises to his son that he would inherit an undefined part of a farm, sufficient to enable him to operate a viable farming business on it, after the death of his parents. Relying on that promise, the son spent the best part of his working life on the farm, working at very low wages and accommodated in a farm cottage. After a deterioration in the relationship between the father and son, it proved no longer possible for the two to work together, and the son therefore moved out, and the father cut him out of his will.

The son claimed an interest in the farm as...

Hudson v Hathway [2023] WTLR 207

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Spring 2023 #190

After Jayne Hathaway (JH) and Lee Hudson (LH) started a relationship in 1990, JH moved into LH’s home and became a joint owner. They had two sons together but did not marry. After selling their home, they bought another in joint names. In 2007 they sold that home and, with a mortgage, bought Picnic House in joint names. The mortgage payments were made from a joint bank account, into which the salaries of them both were paid. LH’s contributions towards the mortgage payments far exceeded those of JH.

In 2009, LH left JH and moved in with another woman, whom he later married. JH cont...

Culliford & anr v Thorpe [2020] WTLR 1205

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Winter 2020 #181

The deceased purchased a property in Weston-super-Mare (the Weston property) in his sole name in 2002 with the aid of a mortgage loan. He met the defendant in early 2010 and by the end of the year the defendant had moved into the Weston property with the deceased and it became his main residence. The defendant undertook repair and decoration jobs around the property, including repairing the boiler and decorating the main bedroom, and undertook work for others in return for work on the property by them. The general outgoings for the property and for the lifestyle of the deceased and the d...