28 July 2010 – End of the Legal Year: cases in which members have acted in 2009-10

Here is a summary of just some of the cases that our members have been involved in this year:

Re Mrs L (Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, unreported) - this case concerned the approach of the Cayman court to the property and affairs jurisdiction under the Mental Health Law.

MEP v Rothschild Trust Cayman Ltd (Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, unreported) - this case concerned the jurisdiction of the court under section 63 of the Trusts Law ( in similar terms to section 57 Trustee Act 1925) to confer a power to partition a trust fund. A pdf of the judgment can be found here.

Sutton v England [2010] WTLR 335, [2009]EWHC 3270 (Ch) - this concerned the jurisdiction of the English court under section 57 Trustee Act 1925 to confer a power to partition a trust fund. Barbara Rich also appeared in this case.

Penelope Reed QC acted in:

RSPCA v Sharp [2010] WTLR 855, [2010] EWHC 268 (Ch) - the High Court held that the correct construction of a will was that an amount of money up to the level of the nil-rate band and a property were to pass to named beneficiaries without any Inheritance Tax being paid on those gifts. The tax was to be borne by the residuary estate, which had been given to the applicant charity.

Alkin v Raymond (unreported) - two trustees were removed by the High Court where they had sanctioned the payment of an invoice to a company owned by one of them, but the invoice was not a properly drawn bill for money due to the company.

Perrins v Holland [2010] EWCA Civ 840 - the Court of Appeal held that the principles in Parker v Felgate (1883) L.R. 8 P.D. 171 in relation to testamentary capacity were still good law.

Jiggens v Low [2010] EWHC 1566 - the High Court held that a deed of appointment made under a discretionary power by trustees of a settlement was void under the rule in Re Hastings Bass [1975] Ch.25 as the trustees had not intended to make an absolute disposal of capital to the defendant beneficiaries, which would have adverse tax consequences.

Barbara Rich acted in:

Gorjat v. Gorjat [2010] EWHC 1537 (Ch) - in which the claimants challenged in the High Court the validity of a transfer by their father of funds in Swiss bank accounts a few months before his death, on the grounds of incapacity and undue influence. The case also involved issues of forum and applicable law.

Kings v. Bultitude [2010] EWHC 1795 (Ch) - a case involving a gift of residue in a will to the "Ancient Catholic Church", an independent denomination founded in 1950 and of which the testatrix had been the last surviving minister. Although essentially Christian in origin, the activities of the church included services of animal blessing and clairvoyance by the time of the testatrix's death. Barbara acted for the intestacy beneficiaries who successfully argued in the High Court that the initial charitable purpose of the gift had failed on the testatrix's death, and that the gift could not be applied cy-pres.

Anna Clarke appeared for the successful appellant in Smith v Cooper [2010] EWCA Civ 722 - a case concerning co-habitation, the rebuttal of a presumption of undue influence and practical justice by restitution on the setting aside of transactions.