April 2013 #128

Davisons Solicitors v Nationwide Building Society [2012] EWCA Civ 1626

April 2013 #128

The claimant (Nationwide) offered on 12 December 2008 to lend Mr Patel £187,500 to enable him to buy 61 Avery Road, West Midlands (the property) for £249,995. Both Nationwide and Mr Patel instructed the defendant (Davisons) as solicitor on the basis of the Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook (CML Handbook).

Paragraph 10.3.4 of the CML Handbook required Davisons to hold the loan money on trust for Nationwide until completion. On 30 January 2009, Davisons were informed by a letter sent from the offices of Rothschild in Small Heath that Rothschild were ac...

Gabriel v Little & ors [2012] EWHC 1193 (Ch)

April 2013 #128

The claimant (Mr Gabriel) and the first defendant (Mr Little) were businessmen and erstwhile friends who had previously collaborated in respect to a project known as Southgate street development in Gloucester. The third defendant (High Tech), the entire share capital of which was owned by Mr Little, was the building contractor. The fourth defendant (BPE), a firm of solicitors engaged by Mr Gabriel, drafted a facility letter recording the terms upon which Mr Gabriel was prepared to make a contribution by way of loan to the cost of the development. In the event, Mr Gabriel was unable to ob...

Hawes v Burgess & anr [2013] WTLR 453

April 2013 #128

Daphne Burgess, the deceased (D), died in May 2009 aged 80. She had three children: the appellant, Julia (J), and the respondents, Peter (P) and Libby (L). P and the deceased were very close. He organised her finances and in 2006 bought a bungalow for her to live in. It was to remain in his name, but subject to a lease to his mother to give her security. They agreed that she would pay £21,000 towards the cost of a new kitchen and bathroom that she wanted installed. J and P fell out for a number of reasons, mainly connected with the purchase of the bungalow and related arrangements affect...

HMRC v Pawson [2013] UKUT 050 (TCC)

April 2013 #128

The Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) appealed from the decision of the Tax Chamber of the First tier Tribunal (FTT) dated 14 December 2011 ([2012] WTLR 665) to allow an appeal against a notice of determination dated 1 October 2008. The respondents were the personal representatives of Nicolette Vivian Pawson (Mrs Pawson). The notice had determined that Mrs Pawson’s 25% interest in a property known as Fairhaven, Thorpeness, Suffolk (Fairhaven) was subject to inheritance tax on a deemed disposal at the date of her death. Fairhaven was a large bungalow o...

Iles v Iles [2012] EWHC 919 (Ch)

April 2013 #128

The deceased, Mr Bob Iles (D) acquired the disputed land and other land which formed part of the Forge Industrial Estate (the Forge) in Darlington over a period of time.

In 1983 D and his wife, the defendant, Mrs Margaret Iles (W) signed a declaration of trust declaring that they held a parcel of land at the Forge in favour of the claimant, their daughter Rebecca (R) upon her attaining 21 years of age. In 1988 the council compulsorily purchased all land held by D and W at the Forge, which included this parcel of land. Following lengthy negotiations, there was an exchange of land ...

Kell v Jones & ors

April 2013 #128

Mrs Joan Pittaway (the testatrix) made a will dated 15 December 2010 and died on 21 January 2011. Her will appointed Mr Kell as one of two executors.

Clause 4 of her will left pecuniary legacies to 15 named relatives and four charities (with £7500 in total left to charity). Clause 6 of the will left her residue to be paid ‘equally among such of the beneficiaries named in clause 4 as shall survive me and if more than one in equal shares’.

It was alleged that the testatrix wished her residue to be split only between family members and not the charities. The size...

Mosley v Popley [2012] EWHC 3905 (Ch)

April 2013 #128

The second defendant (Mr Mosley) appealed against the judgment of Deputy Master Bartlett of 9 May 2012 dismissing his application to strike out the claim brought against him by the claimant (Mr Popley). Mr Popley’s father had caused a trust known as the Blue Ridge Trust (the trust) to be settled in St Vincent and the Grenandines. The shares in the first defendant company (Atem) were held by the third defendant corporate trustee on the terms of the trust. In 2000, Atem purchased White Owl Barn, Tenterden, Kent. Atem remained legal and beneficial owner of the property until 2011. In ...

Paynter & anr v Hinch [2013] EWHC 13 (Ch)

April 2013 #128

>The defendant (Frank) obtained probate of his late mother’s will dated 26 July 2004 (Abbie and the 2004 will). The 2004 will appointed Frank sole executor of Abbie’s estate, which was bequeathed to Frank absolutely.

The claimants (Stephen and Victoria), Abbie’s other surviving children, challenged the validity of the 2004 will on the ground that their mother did not know and approve its contents. They sought revocation of the grant of probate made to Frank and a grant in solemn form of a will dated 24 January 1999 (the 1999 will), by which Abbie’s re...

U Ltd v B & ors [2011] JRC 131

April 2013 #128

B had created the W Settlement (the trust) in 1989 as one of a number of settlements created for the benefit of B, his three sisters, their issue and their remoter issue. As the settlor, B and any wife of his were expressly excluded from benefit under the trust (but not from the other family settlements).

B and his wife Q had been involved in divorce proceedings before the Family Division of the High Court (the English court) for three years. It was considered that the trust’s value (some £2.5m based on publicly available information) greatly exceeded the other settlements&#...