Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2022 #187Sidney Albert Johnston (the deceased) died on 27 March 2017. In prior proceedings, the deceased’s son, Colin Johnston (Colin), had brought a successful claim against the deceased’s estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (the 1975 Act claim).
Following trial of the 1975 Act claim, Colin received a lump sum award of £125,000 (the award) and an order for costs.
A point of importance in the 1975 Act claim had been historic litigation between Colin and the deceased. This had resulted in a costs order being ...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | 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 ...
Personal representatives risk being personally liable if they fail to discharge their duties to creditors. Adam Carvalho and Joseph de Lacey discuss recent judicial guidance on the scope of due diligence It was not clear whether the executors would be able to rely on the protection in s27 in circumstances where, even if no response …
Continue reading "Estate administration: More than remote"
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Ian Macdonald provides a comparison of the English and Scottish procedures for executors ‘The IHT400 and supplementary IHT forms request exact details of the estate assets and English executors have to complete all the forms in full. Scottish executors have however already set out all the assets and values in the C1.’ As in many …
Continue reading "Estate administration: North of the border"
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A recent case shows the danger of conflict of interest when there is an apparent deathbed gift. Siân Hodgson reports ‘Each case will be considered on its facts but what is emphasised in this case is that where a donor has a fluctuating state of health, what is key is that imminent death from a …
Continue reading "Estate administration: For whom do you act?"
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Martin Beard and Zoe Fleetwood discuss the issues that can arise on disposal of a body and cryo-preservation ‘In Re JS the judge made clear it was not the role of the court to give directions for the disposal of the body, but rather to resolve disagreement about who might make the arrangements.’ Many will …
Continue reading "Estate Administration: Put to rest?"
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Jonathan Grogan looks at the pros and cons of removing personal representatives ‘Even if there was no will, the court may be inclined to favour the status quo and so avoid any instability and additional cost caused by removing those who have already obtained a grant of probate from office.’Applications to remove personal representatives (PRs) …
Continue reading "Estate Administration: A bit of a gamble?"
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | December 2015 #155Thomas Edward Weetman (the deceased) died on 3 November 2008. His last will was executed on 19 September 2008 (the will). The principal assets in his estate (the estate) were shares in his company Weetman (Haulage & Storage) Ltd (the company) which he had successfully built up during his lifetime, and shares in a property known as Pasturefields Enterprise Park (the property) which the deceased owned but which was occupied, in whole or in part, by the company. The estate was of considerable value but illiquid. The will provided that fifty percent of the deceased’s shares in the ...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | May 2014 #139The television presenter Jimmy Savile (the deceased) died on 29 October 2011. His estate had an approximate value of £3.3m after the deduction of various expenses incurred by the date of this hearing. By his will, the deceased appointed National Westminster Bank plc (the bank) to act as his personal representative. The deceased’s will makes gifts to a number of individual beneficiaries, one of which was the fifth defendant, the deceased’s niece, who was appointed to represent the interests of these individual beneficiaries (the individual beneficiaries). Thereafter the deceas...
Philip Youdan and Russell Simpson look at Page v Hewetts, which provides guidance on issuing a claim in accordance with the Limitation Act 1980 ‘The judgment in Page v Hewetts provided important clarification on what is necessary to issue a claim in compliance with the Limitation Act 1980.’ The recent case of Page v Hewetts …
Continue reading "Estate Administration: Know your limits"
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