Re RM [2016] EWCOP 25 (Fam)
September 2016 #162In 2014 Roy and his wife had each executed a Lasting Power of Attorney (‘LPA’) for property and financial affairs in which they appointed their spouse, son (Philip), and daughter (Sue) jointly and severally to be their attorneys and an LPA for health and welfare in which they appointed Sue to be their sole attorney. Roy’s wife died in August 2015 following which the Office of the Public Guardian (‘OPG’) received a complaint about Sue’s conduct and opened a formal investigation. A Court of Protection (‘CoP’) general visitor visited both Roy ...
Randall v Randall [2016] EWCA Civ 494
September 2016 #162This appeal concerned when a party has standing to bring a probate claim. The appellant (H) and respondent (W) were divorced. As part of the divorce settlement, they agreed that if W were to inherit more than £100,000 from her mother, she would keep the £100,000 and the balance would be split equally between H and herself. On her death, W’s mother left £100,000 to W in her will and (after some small specific legacies) the balance of her estate (estimated at £150,000) to W’s children.
H brought a probate claim to challenge the validity of the will alleging that it was n...
TM v AH [2016] EWHC 572 (Fam)
September 2016 #162The wife applied to join the trustees of the A trust and the B trust as parties to the litigation between the husband and wife. The husband was the settlor of both trusts. At one point husband and wife had been beneficiaries. They have now been irrevocably excluded from benefit. The wife was applying to vary both trusts.
One trust was subject to BVI jurisdiction and the other to the jurisdiction of the Swiss courts. The trustees of each trust were not submitting to the jurisdiction, and were intending to apply to the foreign courts for directions as to what to in respect of the l...
Anstey v Mundle & anr [2016] EWHC 1073 (Ch)
July/August 2016 #161This was a claim brought by Valerie Anstey, one of the three daughters of the late George Carty. Valerie contended that Mr Carty should be buried in England. Her half sister, Sonia Mundle and her cousin, Cynthia Allison argued that he should be buried in Jamaica. Valerie was supported by another half sister, Stephanie Watson.
Owing to the defendants’ failure to undertake not to repatriate the body pending resolution of the dispute, Valerie sought and was granted an urgent interim injunction forbidding the removal of the body from the jurisdiction. Owing to the urgency of th...
Bainbridge v Bainbridge [2016] EWHC 898 (Ch)
July/August 2016 #161The claimants, who were father and son, farmed together in partnership Seamer Grange Farm. They were advised to place this property in trust and that there would be no capital gains tax chargeable on the transfer. The first claimant, who held the legal title, transferred the partnership land to the trustees of a discretionary trust which was created by a trust deed dated 24 June 2011. Unfortunately, the advice which they had been given was incorrect; capital gains tax was exigible on the transfer, amounting to more than £200,000 plus interest and possible penalties. The claimants and def...
Clayton v Clayton [2016] NZSC 29
July/August 2016 #161Mr and Mrs Clayton were married in 1989, had two daughters who were born in 1990 and 1994, separated in 2006 and were divorced in 2009. By the time of the separation Mr Clayton had built up a significant saw milling and timber processing business, which operated from land and buildings in Vaughan Road, Rotorua. By declaration of trust dated 14 June 1999 (VRPT) Mr Clayton settled the land and buildings, with himself as sole trustee, on discretionary trusts for the benefit of a class of beneficiaries that included Mr Clayton as ‘principal family member’, Mrs Clayton as his wife or former w...
Edwards-Moss & anr v HMRC [2016] UKFTT 147 (TC)
July/August 2016 #161This appeal concerned the estate of Lady Edwards-Moss (the deceased) who died on 8 February 2007. The executors of her estate appealed against a determination under s221 IHTA 1984. HMRC argued that the liability arose on two alternative bases. First, the transfer of a freehold farm in return for an annuity on 23 January 2007 (very shortly before her death) was ineffective (either on the basis that it was legally ineffective or under the reservation of benefit rules). Alternatively, this was a transfer at an undervalue, and therefore a transfer of value on which an IHT liability arose on ...
Kebbeh v Farmer [2015] EWHC 3827 (Ch)
July/August 2016 #161Malcolm Mitchell (the deceased) died on 26 September 2011 in Gambia. By his final will dated 5 May 2006 he divided his estate between his three daughters equally, subject to minor pecuniary bequests. The will left no provision for his second wife, Haddy Kebbeh (the claimant). The claimant brought a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (the Act). The defendants claimed that the deceased died domiciled in Gambia, and that the claimant therefore had no claim pursuant to s1(1) of the Act.
The deceased had moved to Gambia in 1994 when he built hims...
Purrunsing v A’Court [2016] EWHC 789 (Ch)
July/August 2016 #161The claim arose from a purported sale of a property to the claimant by a fraudster who purported to be, but was not in fact, the registered owner of the property. By the time the fraud was discovered the whole of the purchase price had been paid by the claimant to the second defendant (the claimant’s conveyancer), by the second defendant to the first defendant (the fraudster’s solicitor) and by the first defendant to an account in Dubai upon the fraudster’s instructions.
The fraudster’s instructions to the first defendant were that the property had been given to him by his father,...
Swift v Ahmed [2015] EWHC 3265 (Ch)
July/August 2016 #161Mr 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 ...