Beasant v Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind & ors [2022] WTLR 853

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Autumn 2022 #188

By her will (which was drafted by a legal executive of the third defendant), Audrey Thelma Anita Arkell (the testatrix) gave the ‘Nil-Rate Sum’ to the appellant. This was defined as:

‘… the largest sum of cash which could be given on the trusts of this clause without any inheritance tax becoming due in respect of the transfer of the value of my estate which I am deemed to make immediately before my death.’

Subsequent clauses gave her residence, personal chattels and specified shares to the appellant ‘free of inheritance tax’ and her net residuary es...

Equiom (Isle of Man) Ltd & ors v Velarde & ors [2021] WTLR 855

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Autumn 2021 #184

The claimants were the trustees of a settlement settled by the deceased’s father. The defendants were the deceased’s three children. Under the terms of the settlement the deceased enjoyed a special power of appointment which could be exercised in respect of property described in the fund, whether by deeds revocable or irrevocable or by will or codicil. The deceased had exercised this power twice. First, by a deed of appointment in 1981, with effect from her death, the deceased appointed the fund between the three defendants. Second, by a deed of revocation in 1997, expressed to be supple...

Gupta v Gupta & ors [2019] WTLR 575

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2019 #175

The Claimant (‘Rakesh’) sought to pronounce against the only will made by his late mother, Urmila Rani Gupta (‘the Will’). The Defendants were his two siblings (‘Naresh’ and ‘Sashi’), their children and his own children. The only party actively defending the claim was Naresh – he also brought a Part 20 Claim to appoint an independent administrator of the estate. The Part 20 Claim was not opposed.

The Deceased and her husband Laxmi made mirror wills in November 1998. Laxmi died before the Deceased, so the effect of the Will was that it gave Sashi and each grandchild a small pecunia...