Begum v Ahmed [2022] WTLR 1189
Winter 2022 #189The appellant was the widow of Mohammed Yousaf Khan (Mr Khan), who had died on 22 March 2015 without making any financial provision for her under the terms of his last will dated 11 February 2014 (the 2014 will). Instead, Mr Khan had left the entirety of his estate, after payment of debts and expenses, to his daughter and personal representative, the respondent. The appellant, who was elderly and disabled, had lived at 22 Lombard Avenue, Dudley (Lombard Avenue) since 1993.
Probate was granted on 11 April 2016 and solicitors instructed by the respondent wrote demanding possession o...
Da Silva v Heselton & ors [2022] WTLR 1229
Winter 2022 #189The will of the late Gladys Townsend contained at clause 11 a charging clause, the relevant part of which was couched in the following words:
‘MY TRUSTEES shall have the following powers in addition to their powers under the general law or under any other provisions of this Will or any Codicil hereto… (g) for any of my Trustees who shall be engaged in any profession or business [to] charge and be paid (in priority to all other dispositions herein) all usual professional and other fees and to retain any brokerage or commission for work or business introduced transacted ...
Executor of HRH Prince Philip v HM Attorney General & anr [2022] WTLR 1251
Winter 2022 #189This was an appeal against the decision of the president of the Family Division (PFD) to seal for 90 years the will of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, to publish a list of 33 sealed wills of deceased members of the Royal Family, and to seal those 33 wills for 90 years (Re Will of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh [2021]).
At the start of the original hearing, the PFD directed that the hearing should take place in private, having only heard submissions from Prince Philip’s executor and the Attorney General (AG), but that the judgment should be made public....
Ali v Khatib & ors [2022] WTLR 811
Autumn 2022 #188Title to a property (the property) passed on the death of Mohammed Ali in 2003 to his wife Fateh Bibi (Mrs Bibi). Mrs Bibi died on 11 July 2006, having made a will dated 7 January 1997 (the 1997 will). Under the 1997 will, Mrs Bibi left her residuary estate in equal shares to her children: Farzand Ali, Mohammed Ramzan, Mohammed Iqbal and Parveen Iqbal. In probate proceedings brought in 2012 by Farzand in relation to Mrs Bibi’s estate, an order pronouncing in favour of the 1997 will was made on 24 January 2014 (the 2014 order). The 2014 order also pronounced against a document dated 2 Oct...
Byers & ors v The Saudi National Bank [2022] WTLR 437
Summer 2022 #187This action related to a transfer in September 2009 of shares in five Saudi Arabian banks, then collectively worth about US$318m, by Mr Maan Al-Sanea (who at that time held those shares) to Samba Financial Group (Samba). The claimants were the liquidators of Saad Investments Company Ltd (SICL). They alleged that Mr Al-Sanea had at the time of the transfer held those shares on trust for SICL. The claimants brought a number of different actions against Samba in respect of the transfer of the shares, formulating the case on various legal bases in the various different actions. The iteration...
Hirachand v Hirachand & anr [2021] WTLR 185
Spring 2022 #186The deceased left the entirety of his modest estate to the appellant, his wife of many years. At the time of the proceedings, the appellant was a frail woman in her 80s who was profoundly deaf and living in a care home. The respondent, the estranged adult daughter of the deceased, brought a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. The appellant originally failed to file an acknowledgment of service and evidence in accordance with CPR 8.4-8.6. She obtained relief from sanctions by consent but failed to meet the new deadline. No further ...
Partington v Rossiter [2022] WTLR 257
Spring 2022 #186The deceased was domiciled in Russia and entitled to assets in Jersey. He made a will in the UK in 2013. He had initially prepared a draft himself, which defined his estate as his property, money and investments in the UK, and made specific legacies to his children in respect of his Jersey assets. The deceased’s solicitor advised him that the will did not need to refer to specific assets and it was redrafted. Clause 1 of the executed will stated ‘I confirm that this will only has effect in relation to my UK assets’. It divided the residuary estate equally between his children. The deceas...
Banks v Commissioners for HMRC [2021] WTLR 1193
Winter 2021 #185Between 7 October 2014 and 31 March 2015, the appellant (T) made 14 political donations to the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) and its youth wing known as Young Independence. The donations had a total value of £976,781.38. Some were made in T’s personal capacity, others through a company of which T was indirectly sole beneficial owner.
UKIP was a limited company registered as a political party. In the 2014 European Parliamentary Election, UKIP won 24 seats and 26.6% of the UK popular vote, making it the most successful UK party on both measures. However it was less succes...
Dixon Coles & Gill v Baines & anr [2021] WTLR 1247
Winter 2021 #185The appellant was a firm of solicitors. The respondents were, respectively, the Bishop and Diocesan Board of Finance of the Diocese of Leeds, into which had been absorbed the Diocese of Wakefield, which in turn had been a client of the appellant firm. The firm had acted for the Diocese in a number of conveyancing transactions during the course of their instructions. It was subsequently discovered by one of the firm’s three partners that another partner, Mrs Box, had over the course of many years made unauthorised payments from the firm’s client account, and had misappropriated millions o...