Wills v Gibbs & ors [2007] EWHC 3361 (Ch)
June 2012 #120The testator (T) died on 11 January 2005 leaving his share of the farming business they carried on together to the third defendant (PW) together with land. PW wished to exercise the opportunity to vary T’s will by deed of variation so as to pass this inheritance to his son, the claimant (RW) and so avoid the possibility of the disposition being a lifetime transfer taking effect as a potentially exempt transfer (PET) giving rise to an Inheritance Tax (IHT) liability should PW die within seven years of the gift. PW was concerned that opportunity to make such a deed might be swept awa...
Young & anr v HM Attorney General & ors [2011] EWHC 3782 (Ch)
June 2012 #120Wedgwood Museum Trust Ltd (the museum company) was insolvent. Directions were sought by the administrators of the museum company as to whether or not a unique museum collection of pottery and other artefacts built up over many years by Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd (the trading company) was available to pay liabilities arising in the insolvency of the museum company.
The museum company was incorporated in 1962 and received the collection as a gift from the trading company in 1964. At the time of the gift, it was not contemplated that the museum company would acquire liabilities. Th...
D R Sheridan LLP v Higgins & anr [2012] EWHC 547 (Ch)
June 2012 #120C left a will appointing her son and daughter as executors and benefiting her family. Initially, both the son and the daughter instructed a solicitor, D. There was a dispute as to £200,000 which had been transferred out of the estate (although it was not clear when) by the daughter. D suggested that the daughter obtain independent advice, which she did. D was then only instructed by the son. The son brought proceedings for an interim injunction preserving the £200,000, which were compromised but the ultimate issue of ownership not finally resolved. There was a breakdown in relations betw...
Ibuna & anr v Arroyo & anr [2012] EWHC 428 (Ch)
June 2012 #120Congressman A was resident in both California and the Philippines. He was domiciled in the Philippines. He died while receiving treatment in the UK. There was a dispute between A’s estranged second wife (Mrs A) and his life partner (Ms I) as to who should take possession of A’s body and make arrangements for burial in the Philippines. Ms I initiated proceedings in England; Mrs A began proceedings in the Philippines. Mrs A intended (as was her right as a wife under Filipino law) to dispose of the body and have a wake at her home (from which A had, prior to his death, been excl...
Austin v Woodward & anr [2011] EWHC 2458 (Ch)
May 2012 #119The claim (issued on 3 November 2010) was made by the claimant for rectification of her mother’s will dated 6 October 2003 under s20 of the Administration of Justice Act 1982 and for permission to extend time for the issue of the claim form as probate of the will had been granted in June 2009. On the wording of the unrectified will a property, which was the claimant’s home, passed into residue in which the claimant had a life interest with remainder to the third and fourth defendants (the testator’s grandchildren). The testator’s previous will had provided that th...
Lines v Porter & ors [2011] EWHC 2310 (Ch)
May 2012 #119Mr and Mrs L made wills in mirror terms leaving the property that they owned as tenants in common and which was their only substantial asset on trust for the survivor to live in and thereafter to Mrs L’s children from a previous relationship. There were substitutionary provisions that benefited one of Mrs L’s grandchildren, his father, Mrs L’s son, having died.
Mrs L died. Mr L brought rectification proceedings under s20 of the Administration of Justice Act 1982 on the basis that Mrs L had not intended for his life interest to be cut down on his...
Wharton v Bancroft & ors [2011] EWHC (Ch) 3250
May 2012 #119Mr Wharton (D) had been married many years ago and had two daughters from that marriage, Victoria and Gina, (V and G) the third and fourth defendants. He had another relationship which resulted in a third child, Amanda (A), the fifth defendant. He divorced his first wife in 1977 and cohabited with the claimant, Maureen, (M) who took his surname but did not marry him until immediately prior to his death in 2008. Between 1979 and 1995 D made and executed three successive wills all leaving substantial property to M and providing for his children, and some of M’s children, in various w...
Wharton v Bancroft & ors (costs) [2012] EWHC 91 (Ch)
May 2012 #119Mr Wharton (D) died in 2008 and was survived by his second wife, Maureen (M), and by his three adult daughters, Victoria, Gina and Amanda. D and M had been living together for 32 years but only married three days before D’s death. He had been discharged from hospital earlier that day so that he could spend his last few days at home. During this time his solicitor (B) visited him at home and took instructions from him for a will. This left his entire £4m estate to M, in contemplation of their marriage that took place the same evening. Essentially, D made a ‘deathbed will’...
Perdoni & anr v Curati [2011] EWHC 3442 (Ch)
April 2012 #118Perluigi Curati (Mr Curati), who had a domicile of origin in Italy, came to England in April 1955 from Carpaneto to work for his future parents-in-law, who ran a restaurant in Camden. They had previously emigrated from the same town but their daughter was born in England. Mr Curati married Mrs Curati (née Perdoni) in July 1955 and shortly afterwards took over the running of the restaurant, which they eventually sold in the late 1970s. They invested the proceeds in the purchase of real property, to add to a portfolio of investment properties that they had started to build up in England. I...
Quigley v Masterson [2011] EWHC 2529 (Ch)
April 2012 #118The appellant (Mrs Quigley) appealed to Henderson J from an adjudication by HM Land Registry that the joint tenancy of her father (Mr Pilkington) and the respondent (Mrs Masterson) had not been severed prior to Mr Pilkington’s death on 20 March 2009.
Mr Pilkington and Mrs Masterson lived together between 1978 and 2001 but never married. They bought 173 North Street, Coventry (North Street) as joint tenants on 24 August 1992. Their relationship ended in 2001 and Mrs Masterson left North Street. In 2002, Mr Pilkington’s solicitor attempted to sever the joint tenancy. Th...