Ingham & anr v Wardman & ors [2022] WTLR 1337

The appellants (the Inghams) appealed against an interlocutory ruling which set aside a privacy order.

In the proceedings below, the Inghams were seeking permission (the permission application) to bring a derivative claim (the derivative claim) on behalf of the estate of their grandmother, the late Elfrida Louise Chappell deceased (the deceased), on the basis that the executors of the deceased’s estate, Butterfield Trust (Bermuda) Ltd and Stephen Kempe (the executors), were unable to bring that claim due to alleged conflicts of interest. The derivative claim would allege that the ...

Laird v Simcock & ors [2022] WTLR 1351

By his will, the late Robert Simcock created a trust over the sum of £200,000, under which his wife Catherine was to be the life tenant. Subject to that, the capital and income of that trust was to be held on the terms of a discretionary trust of residue also created by the will, the objects of which were Catherine, and Robert’s children and remoter issue.

Solicitors acting for the family determined that only a portion of Robert’s estate would benefit from Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR), with the consequence that, absent an appointment from t...

Laird v Simcock & ors (costs) [2022] WTLR 1365

In an earlier judgment (p1351 of this edition), the court had dismissed the main claim seeking rectification of a deed of appointment made by the claimant and first defendant as executors and trustees of a will trust. The claimant’s position was that there should be no order as to costs, but the court should order that she be indemnified from the estate in respect of her costs. The claimant was neutral in respect of whether the court should order the defendants’ costs be paid out of the estate. The first defendant sought an order that the claimant pay her costs and submitted that the cla...

Re McEnroe [2022] WTLR 1377

This was an application to admit an altered will to probate in its current condition. The testatrix (T) died in May 2017. Her last will and testament was a homemade pre-printed will executed in May 2005. The will had a number of alterations and the probate office refused to admit it to probate without further evidence. T’s sister therefore applied ex parte for the will to be admitted to probate, and for letters of administration with the will annexed. The will was witnessed but one of the witnesses had since died and the other was no longer of sound mind so could not give evidence about ...

Re Piedmont Trust and Riviera Trust [2022] WTLR 1403

The trustees of two Jersey trusts known as the Piedmont Trust and the Riviera Trust made a Public Trustee v Cooper Category 2 type application for a ‘blessing’ of their decision to make distributions that would exhaust the funds of those trusts.

Detailed background to the trusts and of disputes that had previously arisen in relation to them was set out in Re Jasmine Trustees Ltd and Piedmont Trust [2015] (the 2015 judgment) and Re Piedmont Trust and Riviera Trust [2018] (the 2018 judgment).

The Piedmont Trust was a revocable discretionary trust established by deed in April ...

Pile v Pile [2022] WTLR 1445

The parties, who were brothers, held two periodic tenancies as joint tenants: an agricultural tenancy and a commercial tenancy of land at Fir Tree Farm protected respectively under the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 and the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. The appellant and a company of which he and his wife were sole directors and shareholders, F N Pile and Sons Ltd, entered into an agreement with the landlord (the agreement) under which he would serve a notice to quit the agricultural tenancy, the landlord would serve a notice to terminate the commercial tenancy in respect of which he agr...

Power v Bernard Hastie & Co Ltd & ors [2022] WTLR 1459

The deceased had issued proceedings in 1991 against the defendants for personal injury arising from exposure to asbestos. Liability was admitted and in October 1993 the High Court made an order for damages (accompanied by a statement of agreed facts), which included a provisional damages order (PDO) under s32A Senior Courts Act 1981 in the following terms:

‘The Plaintiff do have leave to apply (without time limit) for further damages pursuant to Order 37 Rule 10 if he does develop the aforesaid conditions or diseases or any of them.’

(Ord.37, r.10 RSC has since been replace...

Rawlinson & Hunter Trustees SA v Chiddicks & ors [2022] WTLR 1475

The late claimant was the settlor of eight family trusts of which Equity Trust (Jersey) Ltd was the original trustee. Two of the trusts, ZII and ZIII, both Jersey discretionary trusts, were relevant to the proceedings.

In 2006, Equity Trust retired as trustee and was replaced by Volaw Trustees Ltd. Equity Trust had the benefit of an indemnity. In 2008, a property crash led to the trusts becoming insolvent. In 2012, a company owned by ZII and in compulsory liquidation issued proceedings against its director and Equity Trust, which notified Volaw of its intention to rely on the inde...

Reeves v Drew & ors (costs) [2022] WTLR 1549

In the main action, the claimant sought to prove a purported will dated 2014. The second and fourth defendants challenged the validity of the will on the grounds first of lack of knowledge and approval and secondly, by a late amendment, of undue influence. That amendment required a substantial amount of further evidence to be filed. In a judgment following trial ([2022] EWHC 159 (Ch), available in the WTLR web reports as WTLR(w) 2022-08) the judge found the 2014 will to be invalid for want of knowledge and approval, but dismissed the claim that it was procured by undue influence. The jud...

Sangha v Sangha & ors [2022] WTLR 1561

The late Hartar Singh Sangha (Mr Sangha) died on 3 September 2016, leaving a complex family life and a large portfolio of property and other assets in both the UK and India. He had made a large number of wills at various times. The interaction of these instruments produced significant disputes among his family members. Mr Sangha had at some times during his life regarded himself as married to the first respondent (Diljit). At other points, he regarded himself as married to the appellant (Jaswinder).

Four wills made by Mr Sangha were placed before the court. These were as follows:<...

Wilson & anr v Spence & anr WTLR(w) 2022-09

Reeves v Drew & ors WTLR(w) 2022-08

Matthew & ors v Sedman & ors WTLR(w) 2022-07

Al Assam & ors v Tsouvelekakis [2022] WTLR 787

The claimants were the Dubai-resident settlors and beneficiaries of two Cyprus-law trusts and two trust-owned companies incorporated in Panama and the British Virgin Islands. The trustee of both trusts was a Cypriot company, controlled by directors also resident in Cyprus. The defendant gave investment advice to the trustee. On the defendant’s advice, substantial trust funds were invested in two Cypriot telecommunications companies carrying on business in Greece in which the defendant was alleged to have some involvement.

From at least 2016 the defendant was resident in England. I...

Ali v Khatib & ors [2022] WTLR 811

Title to a property (the property) passed on the death of Mohammed Ali in 2003 to his wife Fateh Bibi (Mrs Bibi). Mrs Bibi died on 11 July 2006, having made a will dated 7 January 1997 (the 1997 will). Under the 1997 will, Mrs Bibi left her residuary estate in equal shares to her children: Farzand Ali, Mohammed Ramzan, Mohammed Iqbal and Parveen Iqbal. In probate proceedings brought in 2012 by Farzand in relation to Mrs Bibi’s estate, an order pronouncing in favour of the 1997 will was made on 24 January 2014 (the 2014 order). The 2014 order also pronounced against a document dated 2 Oct...

Batstone v Batstone [2022] WTLR 835

The claim was brought pursuant to s1(1)(c) of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 against the estate of John Nicholas Batstone Deceased (the deceased). The claimant was the deceased’s adult daughter by his first marriage. The defendant was the deceased’s widow and executor.

The deceased died on 31 March 2019, domiciled in England and Wales and leaving a will dated 2 December 2017. The total net value of the estate was £326,121, consisting of:

Beasant v Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind & ors [2022] WTLR 853

By her will (which was drafted by a legal executive of the third defendant), Audrey Thelma Anita Arkell (the testatrix) gave the ‘Nil-Rate Sum’ to the appellant. This was defined as:

‘… the largest sum of cash which could be given on the trusts of this clause without any inheritance tax becoming due in respect of the transfer of the value of my estate which I am deemed to make immediately before my death.’

Subsequent clauses gave her residence, personal chattels and specified shares to the appellant ‘free of inheritance tax’ and her net residuary estate was directed to be d...

Butler-Sloss & ors v Charity Commission & anr [2022] WTLR 865

The Ashden Trust and the Mark Leonard Trust (the charities) were charitable trusts whose principal purposes were environmental protection and the relief of poverty.

The trustees of the charities sought the court’s blessing for an investment policy inspired by the Paris Climate Agreement (the Paris Agreement). The Paris Agreement’s primary objective was to limit global warming to 1.5 – 2 degrees, below pre-industrial levels, in part by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and by promoting ‘climate resilient development’.

The charities’ investment policy stood to exclude investm...

Cooper & anr v Chapman & ors [2022] WTLR 895

This was a probate claim by the testator’s children (minors with their mother, the testator’s ex-wife, as litigation friend). The first defendant (who was the only active defendant) was the testator’s new partner.

The claimants sought to propound a will from 2009. The first defendant sought to propound a will from 2018. The first defendant claimed that the 2018 will had been signed by the testator on 27 March 2018 with the intention of giving effect to it as a will, and that he had acknowledged his signature in the presence of witnesses who attested and signed the document in the ...

Dunbabin & ors v Dunbabin [2022] WTLR 917

Angela and John Dunbabin purchased a property known as 29 Beverley Place, Springfield, Milton Keynes (the property) in 1983. The conveyance was silent as to the beneficial interests though it contained a declaration that either of the purchasers could give a valid receipt for capital money arising on a disposition of land. With the assistance of Terry Oldfield, a professional will writer, they executed ‘mirror’ wills giving their own share of the property to trustees upon trust for sale and to hold the net rents and profits and the net income from the sale proceeds in trust for the other...