Morris v Fuirer & ors [2022] WTLR 659
Summer 2022 #187The claimant, who was the only child of Cynthia Morris (the testatrix), was the principal beneficiary under her will dated 25 October 2000 but not under later wills made on 28 November 2006 and 14 July 2010 (the wills). The testatrix died on 7 August 2017. Under the terms of her last will, the second and third defendants were appointed as executors; pecuniary legacies were bequeathed to the claimant (£35,000), the first defendant (£70,000) and the fourth defendant (£10,000); and her residuary estate was gifted to the sixth to ninth defendants who were charities. The claimant first intima...
Skillett v Skillett [2022] WTLR 679
Summer 2022 #187Charles Skillett (Mr Skillett) and his wife had four children. Mr Skillett owned a smallholding and, on 7 December 2010, received a market appraisal valuing the smallholding at £50,000. On 19 May 2011, Mr Skillett and his wife made mirror wills which provided, in summary, on the death of the first spouse, for the surviving spouse to take everything absolutely, and on the death of the surviving spouse, for the smallholding to be given to their eldest son, the other three children to receive £50,000 and the residuary estate to be split equally among all four children. Mrs Skillett passed a...
St Clair v King & anr [2022] WTLR 703
Summer 2022 #187The defendants were the executors of the deceased’s last will dated 20 May 2009 (the 2009 will). The claimant, who was the stepdaughter of the deceased, challenged the 2009 will. There were seven issues at trial:
- (i) whether 2007 wills made by the deceased and her husband (the claimant’s father) were mutual wills such that if the 2009 will was admitted to probate, the estate needed to be administered to give effect to a constructive trust reflecting the terms of the 2007 will;
- (ii) whether there was a contract between the claimant and the deceased before the 2009 wi...
Womble Bond Dickinson (Trust Corporation) Ltd v No Named Defendant [2022] WTLR 765
Summer 2022 #187By a trust instrument dated 29 April 1986 (the 1986 deed), Stephenson Clarke Shipping Ltd, a subsidiary of Powell Duffryn plc and member of the Powell Duffryn group of companies (the PD Group), as the named settlor, settled cash and securities on a discretionary trust for the benefit of employees and former employees of the PD Group (the trust). The trust defined the beneficiaries as ‘the employees and their spouses and dependants and the former employees and their spouses from time to time during the trust period [being the period expiring eighty years from the date of the trust] of the...
Boothman & ors v Horsford & anr [2022] WTLR 1
Spring 2022 #186The claim sought removal of the defendants as executors of the estate of James and Agatha Horsford, who were the parents of the claimants and defendants.
The mother had died in December 2011 and the father had died in January 2014. It was common ground that the father’s estate was not fully administered. The claimants said this was an unconscionable delay. It was also said that the defendants had not properly accounted for their executorship and there remained outstanding questions as to what constituted his estate and what had happened to the monies within it. The defendants were...
Brealey v Shepherd & Co [2022] WTLR 17
Spring 2022 #186The claimant applied for detailed assessment of the defendant’s costs incurred in the administration of a deceased’s estate under s71(3) of the Solicitors Act 1974.
Ann Brealey died on 15 April 2014. Her will left the claimant as the main beneficiary. It named her brother, Peter Hayward, and Robin Peter Shepherd, a solicitor, as the executors and trustees of her will. The executors instructed the defendant firm to administer the deceased’s estate. Mr Shepherd was one of the two partners in that firm. The defendant’s bills for the administration of the estate had ...
Brealey v Shepherd & Co (2) [2022] WTLR 27
Spring 2022 #186The proceedings concerned detailed assessment as part of a beneficiary’s challenge to the legal costs incurred in the administration of the estate of his late mother. The point of dispute considered in the judgment was the fees raised by one of the two executors, Mr Shepherd, who was a solicitor. It was common ground that the will did not contain a charging clause. Mr Shepherd relied on a number of arguments. He argued that his appointment was a personal one, irrespective of him being a solicitor, and that both executors were entitled to be reimbursed their expenses incurred in fair exec...
Brookman & anr v Potts & anr [2022] WTLR 37
Spring 2022 #186By his will dated 17 January 2011 (the will), Arthur Brookman (the deceased) appointed his wife, Sandra Brookman, together with her children and brother to be the executors and trustees. The deceased placed his beneficial half share in the matrimonial home at 49 Hemsby Road, Castleford (the property) in a discretionary trust for the benefit of a class of potential beneficiaries that included his wife, his children by a former marriage, his stepchildren and six named grandchildren. Subject to the power of appointment, the capital and income were held on trust for such of his children and ...
Brown v New Quadrant Trust Corporation Ltd & anr [2022] WTLR 49
Spring 2022 #186New Quadrant Trust Corporation Ltd (the trustee), a professional trustee corporation and trustee of a discretionary trust (the trust), decided to sell the trust’s shares in a company known as Lifetime Home Securities Ltd (LHS), such shares representing approximately 25% of the value within the trust. LHS had traded in home equity release arrangements but was then non-trading, with around 13 properties remaining on its portfolio and a remaining director who was 92 years old. The trustee considered that a sale of the shares was more tax efficient, would diversify the trust’s portfolio and ...
Da Silva v Heselton & ors [2022] WTLR 67
Spring 2022 #186The first defendant was an executor and trustee of the will dated 28 June 2001 (the will) of Gladys Dulcie Townsend (the deceased), who died on 1 July 2003 leaving property both in England and Wales and in Dominica. Probate of the will was granted to the first defendant and a solicitor out of the Winchester Probate Registry on 2 December 2004. The claimant, who was a residuary beneficiary under the will, brought a claim seeking the removal and replacement of the executors in December 2015. An order removing the first defendant by consent was made on 2 June 2016. The first defendant, who ...