Gordon Nurse examines a case that indicates how proprietary estoppel cases are currently treated at trial ‘It is essential from the outset to give careful consideration to the facts that must be established, especially if a party is to be entitled to rely on proprietary estoppel.’ Smyth-Tyrrell v Bowden [2018] is an example of the …
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Autumn 2018 #173The claimants occupied land at Falmouth in Cornwall (the property) initially pursuant to a written agreement for the grant of a 15-year lease from 1 January 1993 at a rent of £400 per annum. The agreement was never signed by the defendant’s parents, who were then the freehold owners, with the result that it did not qualify as a valid agreement for the grant of a tenancy of 15 years, due to failure to comply with the requirements of s2 of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989. After the expiry of the 15-year period, the claimants continued to pay, and the defendant to ac...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Winter 2018 #170The deceased was a self-made man who had operated a farming business and a haulage company in partnership with his wife (the third defendant) and his son (the claimant). Over the course of his life, he purchased a number of parcels of agricultural land in Dorset. In 2007 he gave two of these parcels to one of his daughters (the first defendant). In 2009 the partnership dissolved, and the deceased transferred one of the parcels to himself and the third defendant to hold jointly. At the same time the claimant was given one of the parcels and the haulage business.
The deceased died i...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Autumn 2017 #169The testatrix had two daughters, the first and second claimants. In July 2000, the testatrix and her husband made wills in favour of the survivor, and subject to that, in favour of the claimants in equal shares.
The husband died in May 2001. Between 2001 and 2004, the testatrix made 13 further wills. These progressively favoured the defendants (who were two of the grandsons of the testatrix and the partner of one of them), at the expense of the claimants. The last of these wills was made on 12 December 2014, when she made a further will under which the claimants took a legacy of £...
John Dickinson assesses whether a proprietary estoppel solution can replace the need for a binding contract ‘Under the doctrine of mutual wills, there is a need for a legally binding contract as opposed to a mere moral obligation not to depart from the terms of the original will.’ HHJ Matthews, sitting as a judge of …
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Edward Cumming and Timothy Sherwin bring the doctrine of deathbed gifts up to date ‘It is in the very nature of a donatio mortis causa (DMC) that it is conditional on the donor’s eventual death, and that it is the donor’s death which perfects the gift.’ In this article, we consider donationes mortis causa (DMCs), …
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | March 2017 #167The appellant appealed a decision regarding the enforceability of an agreement to sell a piece of land through proprietary estoppel and constructive trust notwithstanding the absence of a written contract.
F, a property developer, was the moving spirit of the appellant (M). In 2002, F began negotiations with G for the purchase of a plot of land (the land) and a meadow (the meadow). F intended to divide the land into two plots. Plot 1 and plot 2 would be sold separately. G did not want to sell until he had planning permission, which was granted in 2003.
By late 2003, a ‘comm...
Rebecca Cattermole highlights the current position on the doctrine of estoppel in the context of recent case law ‘It was a useful working hypothesis to take a sliding scale by which the clearer the expectation, the greater the detriment.’ The case of Moore v Moore [2016] is the most recent illustration of the treatment of …
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | November 2016 #164Tegwyn and Mary Davies purchased a dairy farm known as Henllan in West Wales in 1972. It comprised a farmhouse, an attached cottage, outbuildings, and 182 acres of land. It was farmed with a nearby farm also owned by them known as Caeremlyn which they had purchased in 1961 (together ‘the farm’). The respondent, Eirian was one of their three daughters. By 1989, she was the only child left at the farm. She had a passionate interest in pedigree milking cows which was the main business of the farm, and it was by this stage clear that she was the only possible candidate to take it over. In th...
William Batstone examines the Court of Appeal decision in Davies v Davies [2016] ‘Detriment need not be quantifiable financial detriment, but it must be substantial and it must be weighed against any countervailing benefits.’ Tegwyn and Mary Davies have farmed in West Carmarthenshire since 1961 and they continue to do so now in their mid-seventies. …
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