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...
Kelly v Brennan & ors [2021] WTLR 613
Summer 2021 #183C was a brother of the deceased (PK). He was the executor of PK’s will and also a beneficiary. Ds were the adult children of PK’s sister. PK’s will divided the residue into ten equal shares (including a share for each of PK’s sister’s children). C brought a claim under s20 Administration of Justice Act 1982 (AJA 1982) for rectification of the will so that the residue would instead be divided into six equal shares (with one share being shared between PK’s sister’s children). The claim was opposed by D3 and D4.
PK ...
Rehman v Hamid [2021] WTLR 663
Summer 2021 #183The deceased was born in pre-partition India in 1942, later living in Pakistan. She moved to England in 1965 where she married her husband who was also living in England. In 1986, the couple purchased an English property where they lived until the husband’s death in early 2015. Later in 2015 the deceased returned to Pakistan to live with her nephew. The deceased died in hospital in 2017 three weeks after making her final will which left her estate entirely to her nephew’s son. This was a significant departure from the mirror will she had executed with her husband in 1993, und...
Fantini v Scrutton & ors [2020] WTLR 1273
Winter 2020 #181The claim was brought by the executor of the estate of Iris Mary Fantini. Iris and Gloria Fantini were mother and daughter respectively. They jointly owned a property at 7 Merlin Way, Mudeford, Dorset. Gloria predeceased Iris. The application was brought under Part 64 of the CPR to determine whether the joint tenancy was severed by Gloria and whether Iris’s estate’s costs of the claim should be met from the remaining sale proceeds of the property.
On 5 December 2013 Gloria had executed a will and signed a notice purporting to sever the joint tenancy under s36(2) of the In the course of the claimant’s application as trustee of four discretionary trusts in similar terms governed by English law for the blessing of momentous decisions, AS (the settlor and the original protector of the trusts) died. The trusts had been varied soon after they were declared to expand the powers of the protector to give and withhold consent to the exercise of powers by the trustee. In the absence of a protector the trustee was free to exercise those powers without obtaining a third-party consent. The trusts were administered in Jersey on behalf of the claimant, a profes...
The claimant, who was born in the Philippines, married Michael Frederick Hendry (the deceased) on 31 October 2003. He was 20 years older and already had three adult children. They entered into a pre-nuptial agreement which provided that in the event of the marriage failing the claimant would receive a lump sum of £10,000 and a one-way flight to the Philippines. In the event, they separated on 24 June 2016. The deceased made a will on 6 August 2016 dividing his residuary estate equally between the first and second defendants and appointing the third defendant as executor. The claimant pet...
The claimants were the trustees of a number of trusts relating to an English estate, including a fund created by an appointment in 1978 (the T fund). The claim was for rectification or alternatively rescission of a deed of appointment made in 2010 relating to a sub-fund of the T fund. The defendant was the beneficiary of the relevant sub-fund. He did not oppose the claim. HMRC were aware of the proceedings but chose not to take part other than to request that certain authorities be considered by the court. In 1930, the settlor had settled property on a strict settlement which incl...
By his Will dated 23 September 2003 (”Will”) John Sidney Parker (”Testator”) appointed as his executrices the First and Second Defendants. The sole beneficiary of his estate was his second wife, the Second Defendant. She had been obliged to leave the family home to be cared for by her daughter, the Claimant. On 29 October 2013 the Second Defendant executed a Lasting Power of Attorney (”LPA”) in favour of the Claimant and this was registered on 16 January 2014. The Second Defendant, who had been diagnosed with triple dementia, subsequently moved into full time residential care. The Testat...
The claimants were the trustees of the trusts arising under the wills of Violet Hamblen-Thomas (Violet) and Charles Hamben-Thomas (Charles). They had issued a Part 8 claim form seeking the guidance of the court as to the true construction of the will trusts and as to the identification of the beneficiaries, represented by the defendants. Apart from her only son, Edwin Hamblen-Thomas (Edwin), Violet had a life-long friend, Enid Simpson, whose daughter was the first and second defendant (Victoria). Violet, by her will dated 16 December 1968 (Violet’s will), gave Charles a life interest in ...
The late Lord Templeman (‘the deceased’) died on 4 June 2014 aged 94, leaving a will, dated 22 August 2008 (‘the 2008 Will’). The claimants commenced proceedings seeking an order pronouncing for the validity of the 2008 Will in solemn form. The 1st and 2nd defendants defended the claim on the basis that the deceased lacked testamentary capacity both when he gave his will instructions on 11 August 2008 and when the 2008 Will was executed. They counterclaimed for an order pronouncing for the validity of an earlier will, dated 25 April 2001 (‘the 2001 Will’) and a codicil to it, dated 3 Dec...
PTNZ v AS & ors [2020] WTLR 1423
Winter 2020 #181Hendry v Hendry & ors [2020] WTLR 175
Spring 2020 #178ABC & ors v KJL [2019] WTLR 1101
Winter 2019 #177Whittaker v Hancock & ors [2019] WTLR 1043
Autumn 2019 #176Macintyre & anr v Oliver & ors [2019] WTLR 215
Spring 2019 #174Goss-Custard & anr v Templeman [2018] WTLR 893
Autumn 2018 #173