Pescatore v Valentino & ors [2021] WTLR 917

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Autumn 2021 #184

The claimant, a Mongolian national, was the second wife and widow of the deceased. She applied for an interim anti-suit injunction against two of the three defendants, the deceased’s adult children, restraining them from continuing proceedings against her in Italy pending a trial of a dispute concerning the deceased’s will in England.

The deceased was born in Italy, but was a naturalised British citizen. He had lived in England for 58 years until his death, aged 78, in 2018. His entire working life had been in England. He paid tax in the UK. He had raised a family in England (incl...

Ugolor & ors v Ugolor [2021] WTLR 1127

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Autumn 2021 #184

The 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...

Sangha v Sangha & ors WTLR(w) 2021-12

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Probate: A far from minor inconvenience

The court has provided welcome clarity on applications to court for authority to sell a property abroad on behalf of a minor. Remi Aiyela explains The judge decided that it was plainly in Ilyas’ best interests that the property be sold at a good sale price higher than the current valuation. Re Shanavazi [2021] was …
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Barnaby & anr v Johnson [2020] WTLR 67

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Spring 2020 #178

Mrs Maudlin Bascoe (T) died on 29 August 2015. Cs sought to prove a will dated 27 April 2005 (the 2005 will) naming them as executors. C1 was T’s son. C2 was T’s former solicitor and the draftsman of her wills from 1988 2005. D was T’s daughter. T also had two other children – a son, G, (who pre-deceased her) and a daughter, B (who died after T in 2017).

Under the 2005 will, D received a legacy of £100. There was an earlier will dated 25 October 1992 (the 1992 will) leaving D a legacy of £10,000 the validity of which D did not dispute at trial.

D challenged the 2005 will, a...

Probate: Promises, promises

The parable of the prodigal son has resonance in modern probate disputes. Alex Troup discusses ‘The judge’s finding that the deceased had deliberately broken the agreement to equalise the balance between her two children explained the difference between her old will and the disputed will.’ The parable of the prodigal son has all the makings …
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Probate: A modern shipwreck

Who died first? Scott Taylor and Hayley Robinson discuss a case which explores the modern approach to an age-old problem ‘Judge Kramer raised that the facts surrounding the death are equivocal and the picture is incomplete even when considered in conjunction with the evidence of the pathologists.’ In the recent case of Scarle v Scarle …
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Rea v Rea & ors [2019] WTLR 1231

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Winter 2019 #177

The claimant (Rita) was the daughter of Anna Rea (T) who died on 26 July 2016. The defendants (Remo, Nino, and David) were T’s other children. Rita propounded a will dated 7 December 2015 (the 2015 Will). The defendants defended on the basis that T had lacked testamentary capacity to execute the 2015 Will, that she did not know and approve of its contents, and that her execution of it was procured by undue influence and fraudulent calumny. They counterclaimed for probate propounding an earlier will dated 29 May 1986 (the 1986 Will). At trial they had abandoned the challenge based on lack...

Gupta v Gupta & ors [2019] WTLR 575

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2019 #175

The Claimant (‘Rakesh’) sought to pronounce against the only will made by his late mother, Urmila Rani Gupta (‘the Will’). The Defendants were his two siblings (‘Naresh’ and ‘Sashi’), their children and his own children. The only party actively defending the claim was Naresh – he also brought a Part 20 Claim to appoint an independent administrator of the estate. The Part 20 Claim was not opposed.

The Deceased and her husband Laxmi made mirror wills in November 1998. Laxmi died before the Deceased, so the effect of the Will was that it gave Sashi and each grandchild a small pecunia...

Probate: Avoiding deadlock

How can an estate be admitted to probate when there is a caveat in place? Clare Kelly discusses an unusual case which has lessons for the drafting of LPAs ‘In order to progress the administration, it was necessary for the executors to take action to remove the caveat. However, at this point the estate became …
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