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

Summer 2020 #179

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 ...

Thakare & ors v Bhusate [2020] WTLR 691

Summer 2020 #179

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...

Shelford & anr v HMRC [2020] WTLR 657

Summer 2020 #179

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

Summer 2020 #179

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

Summer 2020 #179

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

Summer 2020 #179

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 ord...

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

Summer 2020 #179

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

Summer 2020 #179

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

Summer 2020 #179

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

Summer 2020 #179

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...