Dignam-Thomas & anr v McCourt & anr [2024] WTLR 105
Spring 2024 #194The claimant sisters (aged 61 and 68) applied under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 for provision out of the estate of their late father. The sole asset in the estate was the deceased’s home in which his son and sole beneficiary of his will, the second defendant (aged 72), continued to reside. The second defendant did not engage with the proceedings despite repeated service of court orders and correspondence, and concerns were raised as to his capacity to litigate. Trials were twice adjourned for capacity assessments to be undertaken, but the secon...
Kaur v Singh & ors [2023] WTLR 569
Summer 2023 #191Mr Karnail Singh (the testator) died on 21 August 2021. The claimant was his wife. They had been married since 1955 and had seven children (one of whom was deceased). All of the children were adults. The claimant had played a full role in the marriage both as wife and working in the family business without receiving a stake in it or a salary. The claimant was financially dependent on the testator who met all family outgoings. The testator’s estate was estimated to be worth about £1.9m, the entirety of the family wealth having been built up during the marriage.
The claimant was 83 ...
Kaur v Bolina & anr [2022] WTLR 235
Spring 2022 #186The claimant and the deceased were married in 2012. In 2014, the deceased petitioned for divorce and also executed a will by which he bequeathed his entire estate to his children, the defendants, leaving express wishes that the claimant should not benefit from his estate. However, he and the claimant were then reconciled and the petition withdrawn. In 2018, the deceased again petitioned for divorce, and in February 2019 he and the claimant separated with the claimant leaving the deceased’s property in Edgar Road, London, but the deceased died on 30 September 2019 before any decree. The f...
Re P [2022] WTLR 251
Spring 2022 #186A mother, D, acting as litigation friend for her 11-year-old son, C, sought a declaration that the son’s father, P, was presumed to be dead. D and P were partners who cohabited and raised C together, but were never married nor in a civil partnership. In April 2011 P flew to South America with his friend G to enjoy a holiday. P kept in regular contact with D until his communications abruptly ceased while he was in Lima, Peru. P’s last known communication was a text message sent to D on 16 May 2011. G also ceased to communicate with his loved ones. Neither P nor G had been seen or heard fr...
Re Will of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh [2021] WTLR 1545
Winter 2021 #185This was an application by the executor of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, for an order that his will be sealed up and that no copy of the will should be made for the record or kept on the court file, and for a direction to exclude the value of the estate from the grant of probate. The Attorney General was the sole defendant whose role it was to represent the public interest. The Attorney General strongly supported the application.
Applications to seal the wills of senior members of the Royal Family had been made for over a century. It appeared that they were always hear...
Weisz v Weisz & ors [2021] WTLR 379
Spring 2021 #182The claimant was the widow of the deceased whom she married on 19 April 2005. It was for both of them a second marriage and each had their own children. By his will dated 12 December 2017 the deceased made a specific gift to the claimant of his half-share in the matrimonial home, which was subject to a mortgage. He appointed his children as executors and the net value of the estate was stated to be not less than £4,088,336. The claimant applied for an interim provision order pursuant to s5 of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. She sought int...
Ali v Taj [2020] WTLR 391
Summer 2020 #179The respondents were the residuary beneficiaries of the estate of Mohammed Taj; the appellant was the deceased’s younger brother and one of his two executors. The deceased died on 1 September 2007, and probate was granted on 7 May 2008 to the appellant and his co-executor. Various issues arose in the course of administering the estate, and in the eleven years following the grant the executors had not provided an inventory of the estate’s assets nor an account of their administration.
The respondents issued a summons for the executors to exhibit on oath an inventory and account of ...
T v V & ors [2019] WTLR 1029
Autumn 2019 #176The Claimant had been in a relationship with the deceased for about fifteen years up to his death on 26 June 2016. She brought a claim against the estate for reasonable financial provision under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975 (‘1975 Act’) in October 2017. The Claimant’s case was that there were significant periods of cohabitation during which the deceased supported her financially and that she was therefore a dependent within the meaning of s1(1)(e) of the 1975 Act. This was disputed by the Defendants and the matter was listed fo...
Cowan v Foreman & ors [2019] WTLR 441
Summer 2019 #175The claimant applied for an order under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (the 1975 Act), s2, against the estate of her deceased husband (the deceased). Probate of the deceased’s will was granted on 16 December 2016 and the application was made on 8 November 2018. Under s4 of the 1975 Act, except with the permission of the court any application for an order under s2 was to be made within six months of the date of the grant. This was an application for permission to make the substantive application out of t...
Daga v Bangur [2019] WTLR 455
Summer 2019 #175Following decree absolute in October 2017, the husband sought a lump sum payment from the wife, out of two discretionary trust funds of which the wife was settlor, with a combined value of £17.5m, the trustee of which was an offshore company. The beneficiaries were the ‘family members’ of the settlor. The letter of wishes directed the trustee to act on the advance of her father. The trusts were created in June and August 2015 and funded by the wife’s father, via the wife, between March and June 2016, the wife passively facilitating their funding. Although the source of the funds in the t...