Parsons & anr v Reid & anr [2022] WTLR 1103
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Autumn 2022 #188William Reid (the deceased) died on 20 March 2018. He left a will dated 20 December 2004 and codicil dated 8 February 2012 (together the will), which appointed the claimants, Nicholas Parsons and Mark Hill (respectively the deceased’s solicitor and land agent), as executors and trustees, and left the residuary estate on discretionary trusts for classes including his children and grandchildren. The defendants, Stephen Reid and Judith Shaw, were the deceased’s children. The deceased also left a letter of wishes which expressed the wish that payments be made to Stephen reflecting various mo...
Titcombe v Ison [2021] WTLR 1101
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Autumn 2021 #184D was a close friend of the deceased and the sole beneficiary under the deceased’s will. C was the deceased’s niece. C claimed that a collection of jewellery in the estate was impressed with a secret trust in her favour, or alternatively that D was estopped from denying that the jewellery was held for C’s benefit.
C alleged that, in a Skype conversation in March 2013, the deceased had suggested that she wanted C to have her jewellery, C had said this was very generous and that she would love to receive it; that the deceased had said that rather than leaving it to C in the will, sh...
Ugolor & ors v Ugolor [2021] WTLR 1127
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Autumn 2021 #184The parties were siblings. The application concerned the estate of their mother, PF. PF had divorced from the parties’ father in 1980, after which PF had continued to live in a five-bed council property (the Property) with the children until they grew up. In 2004, PF acquired the freehold for £192,000. At some point, PF adopted three other children.
In around 2009 (on the defendant’s (D’s) evidence), D moved PF out of the Property and into one of D’s properties. According to the claimants’ evidence, PF was already showing signs of paranoia, and in 2015 D was taken to court by a ne...
Evans v Evans & anr [2020] WTLR 1231
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Winter 2020 #181The claimant was married to the deceased, and was the sole beneficiary of the deceased’s estate. The claimant, who suffered from motor neurone disease and lacked capacity, was represented by her litigation friend, her daughter. The defendants were the executors of the deceased’s estate, and were the sons of the deceased and the claimant, and the brothers of the claimant’s litigation friend.
In contested probate proceedings, the claimant sought, inter alia, an order removing the defendants as executors of the deceased’s estate and the appointment of an independent administrator.
Cronin v De Hamel [2017] EWHC 454 (Ch)
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2017 #168The Brindle Estate near Chorley belonged to Patience Aspinall, who died in 1985. The Estate passed to her sister Honour Ruth (‘Miss Aspinall’) as her executor and sole beneficiary. In the early 1990s, the Brindle Estate was subject to compulsory purchase for the construction of the M65 motorway over the northern part. By February 1994, the Department of Transfer had entered upon the land for the purpose of commencing construction. Miss Aspinall received interim payments on account of the compensation payable to her arising from construction of the M65, in particular, £46,727 in October 1...
Chadwick v Collinson & ors [2014] EWHC 3055 (Ch)
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | January/February 2015 #146Lisa Jane Clay (the deceased) and the claimant lived together from about 2003. They had a child together named Joseph, who was six years old in April 2013. From January 2013, they lived at the property at 36 Lowlands Road, Lancashire (the property) which the claimant and the deceased held as joint tenants. The deceased made a will on 18 August 2008 under which the claimant was the sole residuary beneficiary. The net value of the estate was £79,098.87 of which £60,000 comprised the deceased’s interest in the property. The couple’s relationship was at all times entirely stable,...