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Sealed wills in an age of transparency

Johnson v HM Attorney General [2025] EWHC 1943 (Ch)

Legal practitioners in the field of trusts and estates will doubtless be aware of the increasing emphasis on the need for transparency and “open justice” in English court proceedings. Thus, applications made under the Variation of Trusts Act 1958, which for many years were routinely heard in private, are now routinely determined in open court and even the need to protect the privacy of minors or persons lacking capacity will not be sufficient to displace this presumption. It has likewise become increasingly common for trustees’ blessing applications to be heard in public and to result in a published (and non-anonymised) judgment.

Wills and Estates, Formalities and Amendment, Legal Practice

Procedural concerns for trust accounting

This article considers two recent judgments given after the taking of trust accounts. The first is Master Marsh’s decision in Hubbard v Hubbard [2025] EWHC 855 (Ch). The second, Master McQuail’s judgment in Walker v Somboonsarn [2025] EWHC 1643 (Ch). These judgments offer rare guidance into the practice on the taking of an account.

Briefing, Family Issues, Trusts, Trustee Powers, Duties and Management
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IHT – When does the seven-year period start?

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.

Taxation, IHT

CGT Investors’ Relief

Briefing, CGT

Challenging the validity of a will

Wills and Estates, Family Issues
Briefing

What’s the damage?

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.

Briefing, Family Issues, Formalities and Amendment, Legal Practice

A knotty problem of ordering ADR

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.

Briefing, From the Courts, Legal Practice
Wills and Estates

Despite MS word, “matrimonialisation” is still in the dictionary

This important appeal arose out of proceedings brought under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 for the division of assets upon divorce. In determining the fair outcome to which the parties are entitled, several guiding principles have been developed. One of those principles is the sharing principle, pursuant to which property is classified as either matrimonial or non-matrimonial and such of the property as is deemed to be matrimonial is shared, usually but not invariably on an equal basis. This was the issue with which this appeal was concerned.

Family Issues, Ownership Arrangements, Legal Practice

Settlor’s intentions and inadequate deliberation

The Privy Council in Ashley Dawson-Damer v Grampian Trust Company Ltd and Another [2025] UKPC 32 has unanimously dismissed the appeal of Mrs Ashley Dawson-Damer from the Bahamian Court of Appeal.

Wills and Estates, Construction and Validity, Trusts, Trustee Powers, Duties and Management
Trusts

A decision worth “noticing”

Notice is a familiar and important concept to trust lawyers. Paradigmatically, it is a key component of the defence of bona fide purchaser without notice, which determines whether a person takes a legal property interest subject to, or free from, an equity or equitable proprietary interest of another.

Real Estate, Ownership Arrangements, Trusts, From the Courts, Legal Practice

When is property held in offshore settlements subject to the relevant property regime?

The appellant was the trustee of a settlement known as the Tiodab Trust (the “Trust”). The dispute related to whether Inheritance Tax was payable on the Trust’s 10th anniversary.

Taxation, IHT, Trusts
Taxation

Profit from folly, don’t participate in it

The “profit rule” is the latest equitable principle to be given a firm shake by those who favour the supposed predictability of common law principles.

Taxation, Wills and Estates

IHT on pensions

Pension funds are generally exempt from Inheritance Tax (IHT) and have increasingly been used as tools for estate planning. Reforms to pensions in 2015 granted pension holders greater flexibility in accessing their savings. Prior to these reforms, most pensioners were required to purchase an annuity and receive a regular income in retirement. The changes allowed individuals to retain their savings in pension funds, drawing on them as needed, or leaving them untouched entirely.

Taxation, IHT, Reliefs, Legislative Changes
From the Courts

Accessing health records

It is often desirable to obtain copies of a deceased person’s health records for the purpose of advising on the merits of a potential probate claim as defined by CPR 57.1(2)(a).

Family Issues, From the Courts, Legal Practice

Funeral disputes

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.

Family Issues, From the Courts
Real Estate

Agreements between beneficiaries and the forfeiture rule

A recent unreported decision of the High Court provides helpful clarity in relation to the effectiveness of agreements between beneficiaries in estates affected by the forfeiture rule, such as in cases involving assisted dying.

Wills and Estates, Construction and Validity, Formalities and Amendment, Ownership Arrangements

Are these the “forgeries of jealousy”?

The recent decision of Caroline Shea KC (sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge) in Khatun v Hasan and Another [2025] EWHC 1658 is a rare example of a successful challenge to a will based on an allegation of forgery.

Wills and Estates, Construction and Validity, Family Issues, Ownership Arrangements