Heslop v Heslop & anr [2022] WTLR 137
Spring 2022 #186Mr Dudley Heslop issued two separate proceedings in England against his sister, Ms Mona Heslop, domiciled in England, and his other sister, Mrs Jennifer Seales, domiciled in Scotland. The proceedings concerned the equitable ownership of a property in Jamaica that had been purchased by the parties’ late mother in 2008. The parties’ mother had been domiciled in England from 1948 to 2015 when she moved to Scotland to live with Mrs Seales. In 2018, the parties’ mother passed away, leaving a will dated 13 March 2012 which purported to deal with the property. The proceedings issued by Mr Heslo...
JTC Employer Ser Trustees Ltd v Khadem [2022] WTLR 203
Spring 2022 #186Mr Khadem’s employer established a pension plan for him, with HMRC approval, which was tailored for employees who may retire abroad. On his retirement in 2004 he remained in England as his wife continued to work as a consultant and professor. As his wife approached her retirement they discussed where they should live and decided to move to the UAE, which Mr Khadem did in March 2018.
The claimant and Mr Khadem each took tax advice on 12 December 2018. It was to the effect that the UAE only provides a tax domicile certificate covering the period up to the date of the application for...
Rowland v Blades [2022] WTLR 269
Spring 2022 #186The parties were in a relationship from 2006. In 2008 they acquired a property in their joint names which they held as beneficial joint tenants, which was intended for use at weekends and holidays. In 2009 the parties separated. The respondent asked the appellant not to take his new partner to the property, and he agreed. The respondent spent most weekends there until the proceedings commenced and an order for sale was made. The appellant argued that he had been excluded from the property from 2009 until 2018, and claimed occupation rent. The respondent argued the appellant had voluntari...
Sismey v Salandron [2022] WTLR 281
Spring 2022 #186H was married to W, and they had a son, T. They all lived in a property in Derbyshire (the property), which was owned by H. While T was a child and H was working abroad, H met M in the Philippines and formed a relationship with her. H and W separated, and W and T moved out of the property and into one owned by W. H retained the property as his home when in the UK. H and M had a child, J, and after that H, M and J moved to live together in the UK, in the property.
W petitioned for a divorce from H and a consent order in the financial remedy proceedings was approved by the judge and...
Wang v Darby [2022] WTLR 327
Spring 2022 #186The parties entered into contracts whereby they exchanged specified quantities of cryptocurrencies, namely Tezos and Bitcoin, on terms of reciprocal restoration of the same amounts of each currency upon or after an agreed period of two years. The claimant applied to continue a worldwide freezing order and proprietary injunction. The defendant applied to strike out/enter summary judgment on the proprietary claims.
Held – applications granted in part
- 1) Principles:
- a) Fungible and non-identifiable digital assets constitute property ...
Clyne v Conlon & ors [2021] WTLR 1231
Winter 2021 #185By his will dated 8 March 2016 (the will) Patrick Conlon (the testator) appointed the claimant, who was his niece, and her sister as executrices and divided his net residuary estate equally between the claimant and his three sons, the defendants. Probate of the will was granted on 19 October 2018 in respect to a net estate of about £516,000. The claimant’s sister was removed as an executrix by an order dated 26 October 2020. The first defendant, who had previously been in business with his father, claimed to be beneficially entitled to one half of 168 Headstone Drive, Harrow and the whol...
Face v Cunningham & anr [2021] WTLR 1261
Winter 2021 #185The claimant brought a claim to propound an alleged lost will of her late father (the 2017 will) against her sister (the first defendant) and her elder brother (the second defendant). The defendants alleged that the 2017 will, which was propounded on the basis of what was claimed to be a photocopy of it, was a forgery and that consequently the deceased died intestate. Expert evidence as to the genuineness of the alleged signature of the deceased to the 2017 will was inconclusive. The alleged witnesses to the 2017 will gave evidence.
The second defendant counterclaimed for a declar...
Lonsdale v Teasdale & ors [2021] WTLR 1309
Winter 2021 #185The claimant was the daughter of the deceased. The deceased had made a will dated 15 September 2017 of which the residuary beneficiary was D1, a friend of the deceased. A letter of intent stated that the claimant was not to benefit. The claimant, relying on medical evidence which included a poor score in a cognitive impairment screening test and a letter from the deceased’s GP opining that the deceased had likely suffered from dementia for a number of years before executing the 2017 will, challenged the 2017 will on the basis of a lack of testamentary capacity due to memory issues, and D...
Royal Commonwealth Socitety for the Blind v Beasant & anr [2021] WTLR 1457
Winter 2021 #185By her will dated 27 June 2016 (the will) Audrey Thelma Anita Arkell (the testatrix) appointed the defendants as executors and gave a nil-rate band legacy, defined as the largest sum of cash which could be given without any inheritance tax becoming due on the transfer of value deemed to be made immediately before her death, to the first defendant. The testatrix then gave to the first defendant a specific devise, a specific bequest and her personal chattels free of tax. Pecuniary legacies were also given free of tax to other legatees and the net residuary estate was divided between the cl...
The Law Society v Dua & anr [2021] WTLR 1469
Winter 2021 #185Between 2011 and 2013, the claimant obtained multiple charging orders in respect of five properties registered in the joint names of Mr and Mrs Dua. The Duas occupied four of the properties as a single residence, known together as ‘Fulmer House’. The other was a separate property known as 49 Sudbury Avenue.
The Duas had purchased 49 Sudbury Avenue in 1987 and occupied it as their family home until 2004. The purchase had been funded by a mortgage and the Duas’ evidence was that Mr Dua alone had made the mortgage payments. In 1992/93 and 1995, there were two major extensions to 49 S...