Pre-nups and private client: Take note

Mark Pawlowski considers a recent decision on the enforceability of pre-nuptial agreements ‘It was essential that both parties should have entered into the agreement of their own free will without undue influence, fraud or misrepresentation, and with a full appreciation of its implications.’ The recent Court of Appeal decision in Versteegh v Versteegh [2018] has …
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Roberts & anr v Fresco
 [2018] WTLR 309

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Spring 2018 #171

The High Court was asked to determine, as a preliminary issue, whether a potential claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (the 1975 Act) by a surviving husband against his late wife’s estate abated on the death of the husband. The wife (Mrs Milbour) died on 5 January 2014, the husband (Mr Milbour) shortly thereafter on 20 October 2014. Mr Milbour did not bring a claim under the 1975 Act against 
Mrs Milbour’s estate during his lifetime.

The net value of Mrs Milbour’s estate was £16,776,054. By her will Mrs Milbour left...

Book review: Every base covered

Simon Morris reviews a perennial classic on Inheritance Act claims Ross on Inheritance Act Claims (4th ed) Author: Sidney Ross Published by: Sweet & Maxwell Publication date: 22 September 2017 ISBN: 9780414060814 £199.00 Over the course of recent years I have come to consider Ross on Inheritance Act Claims as an indispensable guide to a …
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Christofides v Seddon & ors 1CL10658

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | March 2014 #137

Marula Christofides died on 14 May 2009 having made a will on 22 October 2008 leaving her worldwide residuary estate between her son Andreas, her two daughters Panayiota and Joanna and her granddaughter Benita.

Probate was granted in May 2010 on a net UK estate of £308,253 with a property in London valued then at £300,000 but at the time of trial worth £420,000. The deceased owned two areas of land in Cyprus – one with a house worth €280,000 and one in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus owned by the deceased’s husband. His Honour Judge Hand eventually settled on £125,000 as t...

Inheritance (Provision For Family And Dependants) Act 1975: ‘Necessitous circumstances’ are not enough

Ruth Hughes looks at the lessons from Re Theodore; Zarrinkhat v Kamal, which concerned a claim by an adult under the 1975 Act ‘This case demonstrates the truth of the proposition that ‘necessitous circumstances’ are not enough on their own to create a viable claim under the 1975 Act.’ The case of Re Theodore ; …
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Lilleyman v Lilleyman & anr (costs) [2012] EWHC 1056 (Ch)

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | July/August 2012 #121

Briggs J gave judgment in relation to costs occasioned by Mrs Barbara Lilleyman’s successful claim for reasonable financial provision from the estate of her late husband, reported as Lilleyman v Lilleyman [2012] WTLR 1007.

There had been extensive without prejudice negotiations and offers (both Part 36 offers and without prejudice offers) had been made by both sides. On 27 July 2011, the defendants had made two simultaneous offers: a Part 36 offer (the July Part 36 offer) and a without prejudice offer (the July without prejudice offer). The defendants made a further without ...

Financial Provision: Big money, short marriage

In Lilleyman the divorce cross-check was applied to a claim for reasonable financial provision for a widow, as Martin Holdsworth and Louise Tatton relate ‘Equality of treatment may not necessarily lead to equality of outcome.’ The recently reported cases of Lilleyman v Lilleyman [2012] and Lilleyman v Lilleyman (costs) [2012] concerned a widow’s application for …
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