Swift v Ahmed [2015] EWHC 3265 (Ch)

July/August 2016 #161

Mr Ahmed (the first defendant) claimed to have purchased a property known as ‘High Elm’ in his sole name in 1995. In 1996 Mr Ahmed and his wife Mrs Ahmed (the second defendant) executed a deed which purported to record that Mr Ahmed held on trust for Mrs Ahmed all the significant assets that he owned, including High Elm. The proprietorship register in respect of High Elm showed that Mr Ahmed had become the registered proprietor in November 2006 (which Mr Ahmed did not accept, but was unable to explain), and that at the same time he had granted a first charge over High Elm in ...

Seals & anr v Williams [2015] EWHC 1829 (Ch)

September 2015 #152

The claimants had brought proceedings under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 for reasonable financial provision out of the estate of their late father, Arnold Seal. The sole executrix and beneficiary of the estate was the defendant. Related proceedings had generated considerable acrimony with the result that the parties’ positions were in danger of becoming entrenched. An attempt at mediation had largely stalled and the legal representatives of the parties proposed as a way forward that the court undertake an early neutral evaluation of the ca...