Gibbons & anr v Smith & ors [2020] WTLR 947

The claim concerned two adjacent plots of land on Station Road, Hollingwood near Chesterfield, Derbyshire (Plot 1 and Plot 2, collectively the land). At some point before 1986 a Mr Mills, Mr Hartshorne and Mr Unwin had formed a club for railway workers (the association). Plot 1 was purchased by the three in 1986, the conveyance describing them as the trustees of the association and that they took the plot on trust for the association. In 1990 the same three purchased Plot 2. The conveyance again stated they were purchasing as trustees of an association, but the name of that association w...

Gardiner v Tabet & anr [2020] WTLR 931

By a will dated 29 May 2017 (the will), Eric Tabet (the testator) gave the whole of his estate to the claimant. The testator, who suffered from long-standing mental illness, had recently been diagnosed with a brain tumour. The will, which was in accordance with the testator’s long-held testamentary intentions, was drawn up by Mr Jamal Hammoud, his close friend for 30 years. He is said to have prepared the will in accordance with those instructions, to have read it aloud to the testator and to have witnessed his signature of it together with another friend, Mr Moshin Lakhim. The testator ...

Gandesha & anr v Gandesha & ors [2020] WTLR 905

The claim involved a 14-bedroomed property in London (the property) which was purchased in 1991 and held upon trust for five brothers as tenants in common in equal shares. It was intended from the outset that the property should be a home for all the brothers and their families. A declaration of trust was executed in June 2015 in order to formalise the arrangement between the brothers.

By the declaration of trust it was declared that the brothers held the property upon trust for sale with power to postpone the sale, and upon trust as to the proceeds of sale and the net rents and p...

Challen v Challen & anor [2020] WTLR 859

C and Richard Challen (the deceased) were in a relationship for 40 years and had two children (the defendants). Throughout that period the deceased subjected C to sustained coercive control, leaving her in an abnormal psychiatric state. On 15 August 2010 C killed the deceased with a hammer and was convicted of his murder in 2011. In February 2019 that conviction was quashed and the matter remitted for a retrial, and in June 2019 C was convicted upon a guilty plea of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. Under the common law ‘forfeiture rule’ C was precluded from benefiting...

Christodoulides v Marcou [2020] WTLR 883

The claimant and the defendant were sisters, the daughters of Agni Iacovou (the testatrix). By her will dated 7 August 2012 (the will), made shortly before her death two days later, the testatrix gave her entire net residuary estate to the claimant whom she appointed to be her executrix. The claimant issued proceedings on 18 June 2014 seeking an order that the court pronounce for the will in solemn form. The defendant defended the claim on the basis that the will had been procured by fraudulent calumny – that the claimant had poisoned the mind of the testatrix by casting untruthful asper...

Caldicott & ors v Richards & anor [2020] WTLR 823

Mr Caldicott is the son of the late Mrs Yvonne Caldicott, who died in November 2012. He, his wife and his adult son brought a claim against his sister, Mrs Pearson, and her co-executor Mrs Walker, as trustees of a discretionary will trust declared by their mother’s will. The beneficiaries of the trust were a closed class composed of the claimants and Mrs Pearson. Mrs Pearson and her co-trustee are private client solicitors and are now both partners in a firm specialising in that field.

Under the terms of the will Mrs Pearson was given a 50% interest in a family company, Wyvern Sec...

Re Boyes [2020] WTLR 793

The testator (T) died in 2010 aged 86 with an estate of £391,573. The claimant (C) was the elderly sister of T’s late wife and sought to propound his last will dated November 2009, which left the estate as to two thirds to her and one third to the first defendant (D1), T’s daughter, who was also executor along with the second defendant. The third and fourth defendants (D3, D4), T’s two sons, challenged the validity of the 2009 will on grounds of lack of testamentary capacity and/or fraudulent calumny allegedly perpetrated by D1 (who was the beneficiary under C’s will). D3 and D4 therefor...

Bowack & ors v Saxton [2020] WTLR 777

The claimants as respective settlor and trustees of two trusts of investment bonds sought declarations that the trusts had been completely constituted, or alternatively rectification so that such constitution has been properly made. The application was unopposed.

In 2013 the claimants (who were husband and wife) were advised by an independent financial adviser to purchase bonds issued by AXA (Isle of Man) Ltd, which on purchase would be settled on discretionary trusts for the benefit of a class of potential beneficiaries, including their only child, the defendant. The claimants we...

Barrs Residential & Leisure Ltd v Pleass Thomson & Co [2020] WTLR 759

The deceased was the owner and occupier of a mobile home situated on a site owned by the appellant. The site was a ‘protected site’ under the Mobile Homes Act 1983, s1 and the deceased had the benefit of a pitch agreement dated 25 November 2005, to which the Act applied. The agreement, together with the statutory controls incorporated by the Act, provided for limited rights of alienation, subject to the payment of commission to the site owner.

Sections 3(3) and (4) of the Act provide that:

Ball v Ball & anr [2020] WTLR 741

The claim concerned a dispute between three siblings. Their father, Christopher Ball, had died on 26 June 1978 leaving the income of his estate in trust for his wife, Dorothy Ball, for life and the residue in the proportions one third each to the claimant and second defendant, with a further one third left to the children of the first defendant. All three siblings were appointed executors and trustees of their father’s will. Dorothy Bell died on 1 June 2016 leaving a will appointing her solicitor and accountant as executors. No grant had been obtained in respect of Dorothy’s estate due t...

Williams & anr v Russell Price Farm Services Ltd [2020] WTLR 733

The claimants were the executors of the will of Mr Russell Price, who died on 8 March 2020. Mr Price had been the sole shareholder and director of the defendant company. 90% of the shares in the defendant company and the residuary estate were left to the deceased’s daughter, Ms Lucy Price, who had been appointed the defendant company’s secretary on 27 January 2020. The defendant company had carried on a farm-contracting business.

The defendant company’s articles of association incorporated Table A in the schedule to the Companies (Tables A to F) Regulations 1985, Regs 29 to 31 of ...

Thakare & ors v Bhusate [2020] WTLR 691

A widow brought a claim for reasonable financial provision to be made for her from her late husband’s estate. The claim was brought 25 years and nine months after the six-month time limit mandated by s4 of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.

At first instance Chief Master Marsh, exercising the broad discretion afforded by s4 of the 1975 Act, gave permission for the claim to be brought, notwithstanding the extremely long time since the six-month period had expired: see Bhusate v Patel.

The facts of the present case were unusual – hence the very l...

Shelford & anr v HMRC [2020] WTLR 657

John Selwyn Herbert (Mr Herbert), a widower with three children, owned and lived in the freehold house, 12 Hammersmith Terrace, London (the house). In 2001, Mr Herbert obtained inheritance tax advice from Stevens & Bolton to implement what was described as the ‘home loan scheme’ and he asked the second appellant, Mr Shelford, who was a solicitor and partner in Edwin Coe, to act as a trustee of the Herbert Life Interest Settlement (the settlement).

The settlement, which was dated 21 March 2002, was established by Mr Herbert with a nominal sum of £10 upon trust for himself durin...

Nemazee v Nemazee [2020] WTLR 637

On 27 May 2015 the deceased entered into four transactions: first, a long lease of her flat, in exercise of her right to buy; second, a legal charge over her leasehold interest in favour of the defendants; third, a declaration of trust that she held the leasehold interest on trust for herself and her granddaughter as beneficial joint tenants; fourth, a will leaving her residuary estate to her three sons in equal shares. The claimant sons initially claimed that the deceased lacked capacity to execute the will and declaration of trust, and pleaded lack of knowledge and approval and/or undu...

London Capital & Finance plc v Global Security Trustees Ltd [2020] WTLR 615

The claimant raised money from private investors for the purpose of making loans to small and medium enterprises. The money was raised by issuing ‘mini-bonds’ for periods of up to five years, at varying rates of interest. Over a period of around two years, £237m was raised from more than 11,500 investors. Security for the bonds was provided by the claimant executing a debenture in favour of the defendant, as a ‘security trustee’. By December 2018, when the FCA issued a first supervisory notice on the claimant on the basis that its promotional material was ‘misleading, unfair and unclear’...

Kingsley & anr v Kingsley [2020] WTLR 593

The deceased and the respondent were siblings who co-owned farmland in equal shares and used it in a partnership between them (though it was not a partnership asset). After the deceased died, the respondent remained in occupation and continued to farm the land. His executors (the appellants) therefore applied for an order for sale under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (TOLATA).

The appellants also claimed an occupation rent, which the respondent admitted she was liable to pay. Before trial, the appellants sought and obtained an interim order for payment of ...

Jeffreys & ors v Scruton & ors [2020] WTLR 575

The first claimant was the executor of the will of the late Laura Jeffreys. He and the second and third claimants were the trustees of the trusts declared by the will. The first to fifteenth defendants were the deceased’s nieces and nephews. The seventeenth defendant was appointed to represent the interests of the deceased’s unborn nieces and nephews of the whole blood. The claim against the sixteenth defendant was discontinued.

Clause 5 of the will created a discretionary trust. The beneficiaries of the trust were defined as the deceased’s son (who predeceased her), any issue of ...

Re JBN [2020] WTLR 563

The Public Guardian applied to revoke a lasting power of attorney (LPA) for property and affairs appointing DN as attorney for his father, JN. The application was brought on the basis that the Public Guardian was concerned that DN had not acted in JN’s best interests by selling JN’s residence and transferring most of the proceeds to himself (DN), and by mixing their finances by operating a joint account.

The Public Guardian was particularly concerned that JN’s care costs were in jeopardy and therefore invited the court, when considering the application on paper, to suspend DN’s at...

Horsford v Horsford [2020] WTLR 519

The claimant and her husband owned and farmed College Farm in Cambridgeshire. They had three children – two daughters and one son. The defendant, who was their son, owned and farmed the adjoining Whitleather Lodge Farm and had joined his parents’ farming partnership on an equal basis.

After separating from her husband in 2011, the claimant moved into a property which had previously produced a rental income and she was concerned to secure her financial independence. This led to the claimant, her ex-husband and the defendant setting in motion the steps required for a partnership agr...

Hartogs v Sequent [2020] WTLR 505

The first defendant was trustee of two trusts established by the claimant and named The Milky Way Settlement Trust (Milky Way) and the Mercurius Settlement (Mercurius). Each of the second and third defendants was a company wholly owned by the first defendant as trustee. The trusts were established by the claimant following estate planning advice given to him by professional advisers at Attendus Trust Company AG (Attendus).

Milky Way was part of an offshore trust structure, established in 2009 by the claimant to acquire and hold property in England for the occupation of the claiman...