A few interesting cases from the last 6 months:-
- Tax
- Trusts
- Wills
- Probate
TRUSTS – Morgan v. Estate of Morgan Dec’d [2026] EWHC 20 (Ch)
No resulting trust where the donor ‘has not proved on the balance of probabilities that she was the beneficial owner of the cash’ and the recipient ‘clearly did not intend that Mrs Morgan should have a beneficial interest in the property that was to be purchased’.
PROBATE – Tucker v. Howe [2026] EWHC 208 (SCCO)
Where beneficiaries initiated and pursued assessment of a professional executors costs under s.71(3) Solicitors Act 1974, and took a ‘belligerent approach in characterising a generally unremarkable body of costs as extraordinary in amount’, the Court finds ‘it is fair for the Claimants to bear the costs of these detailed assessment proceedings’.
TRUSTS – A & Ors v. C & Ors [2026] UKPC 11
In the absence of any express provision, ‘settlors must be taken to have known or been advised as to the constraints upon decision-making’ for fiduciaries, and ‘It must be inferred, as a matter or construction, that no further or narrower restraints were intended to be imposed’.
TAX – Wood v. HMRC [2026] UKFTT 589
While the subjective intentions of the donor are relevant to determining whether s.10(1) IHTA 1984 applies, donations to further a political objective are still transfers of value and subject to Inheritance Tax.
WILLS – Wilkinson v. Kirkham [2026] EWHC 1006 (Ch)
A gift of residue “to the daughter of” is not void for uncertainty where there is more than one daughter – ‘the expression “the daughter” refers to the daughters, who take under… the will in equal shares’.