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The British Diabetic Association v Chenery [2024] EWHC 3466 (Ch)
The British Diabetic Association v Chenery [2024] EWHC 3466 (Ch) was a case about the validity of a will written on the back of two torn out pieces of food packaging. It attracted significant press attention when it was decided in November 2024; the Daily Mail, The Guardian and The Times all publishing articles on the decision.
The recent decision of Costs Judge Brown in Reeves v Frain and Others [2025] EWHC 185 (SCCO) (“the Costs Judgment”) is a timely reminder for contentious probate litigators to consider their funding arrangements and retainers with care.
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One of the most basic Inheritance Tax mitigation strategies is to make a Potentially Exempt Transfer and to survive for seven years. It is generally well understood that if there is a reservation of benefit, the seven-year survival period will not start running until the reservation of benefit is removed.
In Halsey v Milton Keynes General NHS Trust [2004] EWCA Civ 576, the Court of Appeal appeared – controversially – to take the view that a court could not lawfully compel parties to a civil dispute to participate in an alternative dispute resolution process.
The Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 introduced pivotal substantive reforms to English land law, in particular ridding it of the outmoded concept of the trust for sale and replacing it with the trust of land.
On 12 March 2025, HHJ Matthews (sitting as a judge of the High Court) handed down judgment in Patel v Patel [2025] EWHC 560 (Ch). The claim involved a dispute as to the funeral arrangements for Bhikhubhai Patel (“Mr Patel”), who died in December 2024 without leaving clear instructions as to his funeral wishes.
On 18 December 2024, the Supreme Court handed down its long-awaited decision in the matter of Hirachand v Hirachand and Another [2024] UKSC 43.
When considering whether to bring proceedings in relation to a trust, a key question for practitioners and litigants is who might pay the costs. In particular, practitioners may be asked to advise whether the costs of the proceedings will be payable from the trust fund itself.
For a will to be valid it is commonly said that there are four requirements: (1) the will must have been executed by the testator in accordance with the Wills Act 1837, section 9; (2) the testator must have had the necessary capacity to execute the will; (3) the testator must have been free of undue influence and fraud; and (4) the testator must have “known and approved” of the will. This article considers the fourth requirement, the need for knowledge and approval.
The Statutory Residence Test set out at schedule 45 to the Finance Act 2013 is a series of rules for determining a taxpayer’s residence, replacing, from 6 April 2013, old common law rules.
Turner’s “Rome, From Mount Aventine” (the “Painting”) was completed in 1835, the preliminary sketches having been made during his second trip to Rome in 1828. We are on the southernmost of the seven hills, looking north over Tiber Island at dawn.
Any lawyer who has issued proceedings which include a claim for declaratory relief will breathe a small sigh of relief following the Supreme Court’s decision in Nasir v Zavarco plc [2025] UKSC 5.
At the time of writing, the Supreme Court has not yet handed down judgment on the appeal of Hirachand v Hirachand [2021] EWCA Civ 1498 on the question of whether a conditional fee agreement (CFA) success fee is a debt which can legitimately be included in an award to a successful claimant under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. In the meantime, two recent decisions of the High Court on costs in relation to the 1975 Act claims Jassal v Shah and Ramji v Harvey may be of interest to practitioners.
Claims to a beneficial interest in property which is held in the sole name of the defendant are often brought on the basis of a common intention constructive trust.
It will be well known by most readers that it has been a key plank of Labour’s electoral campaign to abolish the link between domicile and UK taxation.
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