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Inheriting trouble: Options following estate insolvency due to negligence or fraud
Elliot Grosvenor-Taylor
Anna has extensive litigation experience, acting for both domestic and international clients on complex, multi-jurisdictional, trust and estate disputes.
Anna acts for clients bringing and defending claims relating to estates, including disputes regarding the validity of wills, estate administration, and claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. She regularly advises beneficiaries and trustees regarding allegations of breach of trust, disclosure requests, and the removal of trustees. Anna is also experienced in dealing with Court of Protection disputes relating to the appointment or conduct of attorneys and deputies, the recovery of assets, and reporting restrictions.
Anna’s wider litigation experience covers high value corporate and contractual disputes, multi-jurisdictional fraud cases, intellectual property, and professional negligence claims. Anna has experience acting in claims involving asset tracing, freezing injunctions, and disclosure orders.
Anna is is recommended in Legal 500 and is a member of the firm’s Charity and Pro Bono Committees. She volunteers at the Royal Courts of Justice Citizens Advice Centre and Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre, where she supervises the contentious probate advice sessions.
Areas of experience
- Trust and Estate disputes;
- Court of Protection disputes;
- Charity disputes;
- Disputes regarding beneficial ownership of Land;
- Commercial and Contract disputes;
- Professional Negligence;
- Injunctions;
- Civil fraud; and
- Multi-jurisdictional litigation.
Recent experience
- Acting in a wide range of inheritance and probate claims, including cases where wills have been challenged on the grounds of forgery, incapacity or undue influence, or because they have not been validly executed.
- Acting in a Court of Protection dispute regarding the lifting of reporting restrictions, disclosure of documents, and allegations of misconduct against attorneys for a High Net Worth individual.
- Acting in a complex dispute concerning the misappropriation of estate assets held through trust structures in multiple jurisdictions.
- Successfully settling a 1975 Act claim for a surviving spouse who had been left out of her husband’s will, and achieving a substantial award.
Acting for a trustee of a charity in successfully defending allegations of breach of trust where an investigation was undertaken by the Charity Commission. - Acting for Aquila Advisory and successfully defending an appeal to the Supreme Court by the CPS in a dispute concerning a constructive trust over secret profits following a breach of fiduciary duty by directors of a company. Crown Prosecution Service v Aquila Advisory Limited [2021] UKSC 49.
- Acting for a beneficiary in a will rectification claim and professional negligence claim against the solicitors who prepared the will for the deceased.
- Acting for an adult child in successfully settling a 1975 Act claim, and achieving a significant increase to the inheritance received under his father’s will.
- Acting for an executor in relation to claims against an estate concerning allegations of historic sexual abuse by the deceased.
- Acting in a multijurisdictional claim involving the tracing and successful recovery of funds which were misappropriated from a pension fund.
- Acting in a high value Consumer Credit Act dispute regarding unpaid loans.
- Acting for Rangers Football Club in various proceedings and contractual disputes with Sports Direct.
- Achieving a commercial settlement for a company in a claim about the ownership of valuable intellectual property, and allegations of conspiracy to defraud.
WHAT CLIENTS AND DIRECTORIES SAY
Kate Salter and Anna Metajder are extremely dedicated and on top of the detail."
The Legal 500, 2025
Sophie Mass and Anna Metadjer are also excellent."
The Legal 500, 2024
Katherine Pymont, Kate Salter and Anna Metadjer are all so dedicated, competent, quick to react – it’s an absolute pleasure working with them."
The Legal 500, 2023
Anna Metadjer is very very clever."
The Legal 500 UK, 2023
Anna Metadjer: very hardworking and efficient; excellent with clients”
The Legal 500 UK 2022
Very knowledgeable in the area. She is extremely organised and will fight hard for her client’s interests."
The Legal 500 UK, 2021
very competent, calm and reassuring”
The Legal 500 UK, 2019
PUBLICATIONS & PRESS HIGHLIGHTS
- Making a will following a diagnosis of dementia and avoiding validity challenges, Today's Wills & Probate, May 2024
- The rise in inheritance tax investigations by HMRC, Today's Wills & Probate, February 2024
- Financial Abuse: A Growing Global Problem, WealthBriefing, January 2024
- Pension Trustee Case Could Lead To Fossil Fuels Divestment, Law360, July 2023
Professional societies and memberships
- Completed the Association of Contentious Trust and Probate Specialists qualification
- Court of Protection Practitioners Association
- The Contentious Trusts Association
- Law Society
- Listed as a Citywealth Leader in Contentious Trusts
