Re Loftus (Deceased); Green and Others v Gaul and Others
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Mr Justice Lawrence Collins |
| Judgment Date | 18 March 2005 |
| Neutral Citation | [2005] EWHC 406 (Ch) |
| Docket Number | Case No. HC 03 C 00220 |
| Court | Chancery Division |
| Date | 18 March 2005 |
[2005] EWHC 406 (Ch)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
CHANCERY DIVISION
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand
London WC2A 2LL
Mr Justice Lawrence Collins
In the Matter of the Estate Of
Ivor Andrew Loftus (Deceased)
Case No. HC 03 C 00220
Miss Sarah Asplin QC and Miss Kerry Bornman (instructed by Pearson Row) for the Claimants
Mr James Pickering (instructed by Blaser Mills) for the First Defendant
Mr Stephen Acton (instructed by Lock & Marlborough) for the Third Defendant
Approved Judgment
Hearing: January 25, 26, 27, 28, 31, February 4, 2005
I direct that pursuant to CPR PD 39A para 6.1 no official shorthand note shall be taken of this
Judgment and that copies of this version as handed down may be treated as authentic.
()
I Introduction
Ivor Loftus ("Mr Loftus") was born on November 14, 1918. He and his wife Margaret ("Mrs Loftus") had 6 children: Angela Green (Angela"), born October 23, 1943; twin sisters Christina Loftus ("Christina") and Margaret Gaul ("Margaret"), born April 15, 1946; Sheila Ross ("Sheila"), born November 3, 1948; Michael Loftus ("Michael"), born April 19, 1953 and Katherine Toms ("Katherine"), born November 3, 1960.
Angela, Sheila and Katherine are the claimants. Margaret is the first defendant, and Michael is the second defendant (who has taken no part in these proceedings). Mr and Mrs Loftus had 15 grandchildren, including Margaret's son Dexter, the third defendant, who was born on June 13, 1977. I heard oral evidence from the claimants, from Margaret and Dexter, and from Mr Arthur Lemer, Margaret's former solicitor.
Although it was famously said that every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, in my experience there is a depressing similarity between unhappy families when it comes to disputes over the assets of deceased parents. This is a particularly bitter dispute, where the sums of money are modest by modern standards, and which has been going on ever since the death in 1990 of Ivor Loftus, the father of the claimants and of the first and second defendants, and the grandfather of the third defendant. As is usual, the dispute is not really about the money, but about long-running sores within the family, no doubt preceding the deaths of the parents in 1989/1990. In evidence, Katherine described the claimants' attitude to Margaret as being: "You have hurt us, we wanted to hurt you."
On several occasions during this trial, I encouraged the parties to see if the dispute could be settled, but with no effect. Indeed as long ago as April 1992, the then solicitors for the claimants and Michael wisely advised: "The alternative to Court proceedings is simply to cooperate as a family as best you can and bring to an end this long running dispute in the most effective and efficient way you can."
I have also to say that there seems to have been a culture of dishonesty in the family which is evidenced by extensive tax evasion, by Michael's imprisonment for fraud, and by the fact that parties on both sides lied to me in the witness box.
II The background
Mr Loftus was a successful builder of Irish origin. From about 1942 he had run a partnership with his brother Kevin Loftus. There was evidence that he loved to gamble; and that he owned and bred greyhounds, and had a table at Wembley for evening dog racing meetings on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Mr and Mrs Loftus lived in the family home at 13 Gordon Road, Wealdstone, Harrow. They owned the house jointly.
In 1970 or 1971 Kevin Loftus decided that he did not want to continue with the business. In August 1970 Mr Loftus incorporated I Loftus & Son Ltd ("the Company").
Angela, Sheila, Katherine and Michael were involved in the business. According to Sheila, from the age of 14 she ran the payroll and bookkeeping side of the business, and Angela also had involvement with the business and they would share tasks and duties. Sheila became fully employed by the business when she 18. Mr Loftus gave Sheila a shareholding of 10% in the Company.
MP Loftus Ltd began to trade in about 1977. The shares in MP Loftus Ltd were registered in the names of Michael and Katherine. It seems from the accounts of the Company that the Loftus family business was arranged so that the Company acted mainly or exclusively as sub-contractor for MP Loftus Ltd, which was its largest creditor and its largest debtor.
According to the claimants' unchallenged evidence, in June 1997 Michael was sent to prison, probably in connection with fraudulent transactions within his company.
III Margaret and Chris Gaul and 68 Headstone Road
Angela, Sheila and Katherine had, it seems, stable marriages. That was not so with regard to Christina and Margaret. Christina married, but separated from her husband in the early 1980s. By her own account, Margaret (and also Christina) was not academic, and she and her twin were dyslexic. There was also some evidence that both Christina and Margaret suffered from alcohol-related problems. In April 1985 Christina died at the age of 39. According to Margaret, Mr Loftus was heartbroken and Christina's death brought Mr Loftus and Margaret closer together. According to the uncontradicted evidence of Sheila, Margaret had occasional jobs between the age of 16 and 21 but thereafter was never employed.
In 1968 Margaret married Chris Gaul. Chris Gaul was a gambler, and (it seems) a violent and abusive person. Chris Gaul, apart from about 3 years working for Mr Loftus, in his late teens or early 20s, never worked. Their son Dexter was born on June 13, 1977. The marriage was a difficult one. They were divorced in about 1986, and were then reconciled and re-married, but there were further divorce proceedings in the 1990s, although they did not end in a decree absolute. Chris Gaul died in July 2003. There was a further major family row following his death, when Margaret arranged for him to be buried alongside the graves of Mr and Mr Loftus and Christina. The claimants tried to stop it, but failed.
Margaret lived at 68 Headstone Road, Harrow. Mr Loftus bought it in 1969 for £4,450 shortly after Margaret's marriage as a house for her and Chris Gaul to live in. It was registered in the joint names of Mr Loftus, Chris Gaul and Margaret. Margaret's position has always been that Mr Loftus intended it as a gift to her, but that he kept his name on the title to prevent Chris Gaul from exploiting her by bullying her into mortgaging it. The claimants have at various times taken the position that Mr Loftus retained a beneficial interest, and bought, or took a share in, the house as an investment for himself, but whether that is so is not an issue in this case. After the death of Chris Gaul in 2003, Margaret transferred the house to Dexter for no consideration. It is a substantial house, worth some £300,000 in November 1991 (according to a letter from the Royal Bank of Scotland to Margaret dated November 22, 1991), and obviously worth much more now.
IV The death of Mr Loftus
Mrs Loftus died intestate on January 30, 1989, and Mr Loftus died on August 11, 1990.
In 1984 Mr Loftus had executed a will at the offices of his solicitors, Pictons. Sheila and his solicitor Mr Fuller were to be the executors, and the estate was left to Mrs Loftus and Angela, Christina, Sheila and Katherine. Margaret was not mentioned, apparently because Mr Loftus did not trust Chris Gaul, or (according to the claimants) because Mr Loftus felt that he was supporting Margaret and had given her enough. Michael was not mentioned because (according to the claimants) he was going to carry on the family business through his company MP Loftus Ltd. If Mrs Loftus predeceased Mr Loftus, 13 Gordon Road was to go to Christina. According to Sheila, the 1984 will provided for 13 Gordon Road to pass to Christina, because Christina had recently separated from her husband and returned to live in the family home.
In June 1986 Mr Loftus executed a new will, which was dealt with by Mr Fuller of Pictons. After Mr Loftus' death Pictons were unable to locate the original, or a copy, of the 1986 will. There had been a fire at their offices and extensive refurbishment. The claimants were suspicious that Margaret had a copy of, or the original of, the will, and claimed that Margaret said shortly after Mr Loftus' death that she had a copy of the will, but would not give it to them, and Sheila's solicitors claimed that Margaret was holding the original, but nothing came of this. As a result of the presumption of revocation, Mr Loftus was treated as having died intestate.
V An overview
In this section I shall endeavour to summarise (at the risk of over-simplification) much of what is dealt with in greater detail below.
The assets in Mr Loftus' estate were his 90% shareholding in the Company, the matrimonial home at 13 Gordon Road, Wealdstone ("13 Gordon Road"), his personal chattels and the premises known as the land lying to the south of Headstone Drive ("the Yard").
In September 1991, without the knowledge of her siblings, Margaret applied for, and, on December 10, 1991 was granted, letters of administration in Mr Loftus' estate.
13 Gordon Road was put on the market by the family in early November 1991 at £95,000.
In late 1991 the Inland Revenue investigated the Company and MP Loftus Ltd. The focus of the investigation was two offshore accounts amounting in all to about £500,000: one was held in the Isle of Man in the joint names of Mr Loftus and Sheila, and the other in Jersey in the joint names of Mr Loftus and Michael. The Revenue took the position that the money in the accounts had come...
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