Private Wealth and Trust Disputes Notes

Deal or No Deal? The High-Stakes Game of Contesting a Will with a No-Contest Provision Under the 1975 Act

The Binding Contract Requirement: The County Court considers the test for mutual wills

The County Court has recently examined the law on mutual wills as well as providing a brief reminder of the law of testamentary capacity and undue …

HONG KONG HIGH COURT REAFFIRMS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF USING PRECISE WORDINGS IN WILLS

Court considers the will of the judge who created the ‘Golden Rule’

GOSS-CUSTARD & ANOR V TEMPLEMAN & ORS [2020] EWHC 632 (CH) Following a seven-day trial, judgment was handed down on 28 January 2020 upholding …

Out of time financial provision claims under the 1975 Act - further clarity from the English Court of Appeal?

In the recent case of Begum v Ahmed [2019] EWCA Civ 1794, the Court of Appeal granted permission for the Appellant to bring a claim 12 months out of time …

Where there's a certified copy Will, there's a way? English High Court admits certified copy Will to probate, despite dispute about whether the will-maker had revoked it

In Blyth v Sykes [2019] EWHC 54 (Ch), the English High Court decided that an estate would be administered in accordance with a certified copy of the …

International bank fined by Jersey court for "intermeddling" in assets of an estate

In a recent case in the Royal Courts of Jersey, a bank was fined for not obtaining the necessary authorisation before transferring the assets of a …

English High Court finds son entitled to family farm based upon proprietary estoppel

In Thompson v Thompson [2018] EWHC 1338, the High Court in London ruled in favour of a son who sought a declaration based on proprietary estoppel that …

Personal representative liable for inheritance tax on fully distributed estate

  The First-tier Tax Tribunal ("FTT") has provided a valuable reminder in the case of Harris v HMRC [2018] UKFTT 204 that, with limited …

English Court considers grounds for out of time claims for financial provision from estates

In a recent decision, Sargeant v Sargeant [2018] EWHC 8 (Ch), the English High Court considered the circumstances in which the English Court will grant …

AUSTRALIAN COURT HOLDS THAT UNSENT TEXT MESSAGE CAN ACT AS VALID WILL

The Queensland Supreme Court has held that an unsent text message written on a man's mobile phone shortly before he died adequately captured his …

HIGH COURT RULES: HOMEMADE, UNCLEAR WILL IS VALID AND CREATES TRUST RATHER THAN ABSOLUTE GIFT

In the recent case of Vucicevic v Aleksic [2017] EWHC 2335 the High Court (Bristol District Registry) considered the rules relating to gifts in the …