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From garage to unicorn – Employment law lessons for scaling tech teams
Catherine Bourne
15 January 2019
Top 10 Contentious Trust and Probate Cases of 2018
2018 has seen many interesting decisions in the field of contentious trust and probate litigation. I summarise what I see as some of the key cases below (in order of the judgment date), which have covered topics varying from will validity challenges to construction of trust documents and much more in between.
12 December 2018
Going… going… gone. When is a contract formed at auction?
Banksy's newly-titled "Love is in the Bin" was unveiled on 12 October 2018 at Sotheby's in London. Originally titled "Girl with Balloon," the canvas passed through a hidden shredder seconds after the hammer fell on 5 October 2018 at Sotheby's London Contemporary Art Evening Sale, making it the first artwork in history to have been created live during an auction.
30 November 2018
Abuse of Power of Attorney: Safeguarding against the increasing threat
Last month it was reported by the BBC that a consultant psychiatrist, Zholia Alemi, had been found guilty of four fraud and theft charges (and subsequently jailed for five years) having “redrafted [an elderly patient’s] will and fraudulently applied for power of attorney” in an effort to benefit from her estate. Alemi is said to have met the patient at a dementia clinic.
29 November 2018
Don’t take your parent’s word for it, it may not be worth its weight in gold (or property)
A survey from Will Aid shows that more than half of parents in the UK do not have a will. Even when wills are made they are sometimes subject to challenge where children do not believe the terms of the will reflect their parents’ true intentions or do not record promises made. If you have been promised part of an estate, a specific property or otherwise, it is wise to have such a promise evidenced in writing and/or witnessed by an independent third party. Reliance on a promise without such evidence may leave you with less than you had anticipated and lead to an unpleasant inheritance dispute.
26 September 2018
Dealing with costs in trusts and probate proceedings – Part 2: exceptions to the general rule in probate claims
The principles applicable to costs in the context of probate litigation are different from the costs of other litigation. In particular, there are two long established exceptions to the general litigation rule that costs follow the event.
- Alternative dispute resolution
- Claims against banks
- Costs Law
- Court of Protection Disputes
- Cross-border litigation
- Defamation, privacy & reputation
- Fraud
- Restructuring & Insolvency
- Intellectual property claims
- Legal updates
- Litigation process
- Professional negligence
- Shareholder and Boardroom Disputes
- Wills, trusts and inheritance disputes