Re the Estate of Phyllis Mary Bliss (Deceased)
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 02 April 2001 |
| Date | 02 April 2001 |
| Court | Chancery Division |
Chancery Division
Before Mr Justice Ferris.
Wills - property to be valued as at date of testator's death - subsequent events affecting value not to be allowed for
Where the terms of a will required property to be valued as at the date of the testator's death, it was not open to the valuer to amend his valuation to allow for subsequent events which would affect the value of the property.
Mr Justice Ferris so held in the Chancery Division, declaring on the application of the claimants, Roy Layton and his wife, Linda Joyce Layton, inter alia, that the valuation of the option to purchase one or both of the flats situated at 32 York Road, Broadstone, Dorset given to the claimants by Mrs Phyllis Mary Bliss (formerly Inman) by her will dated October 16, 1992, as amended by the codicil to that will dated August 6, 1997, had to value the property at the time of the deceased's death in the light of the facts which were known about the property at that time, and could not be amended to allow for subsequent events which had now affected the value of the property.
The first and second defendants were Ian Michael Newcombe and Malcolm Richard Baker, partners in a firm of solicitors known as Coleman & Loffett, now known as Harold G. Walker & Co, and executors and trustees of the estate of Mrs Bliss.
The third defendant was Andrew David William Stephens, a nephew of the deceased, the third trustee and executor of her estate under the said will and a beneficiary under the will.
The fourth defendant, Helen Mary Newman, was one of the nieces of the deceased and a beneficiary under the will.
Mr Daniel Lightman for the claimants; Mr Michael Templeman for the first and second defendants; Mr Stephens in person; Mr Alistair Craig for the fourth defendant.
MR JUSTICE FERRIS said that the trustees had to specify the price at which the claimants could exercise their option in respect of one or both of the flats. That price was to be 80 per cent of the full market price of the property as assessed by a valuer appointed by the trustees.
The valuation was to reflect the value of the property at the date of the testatrix's death, March 5, 1998: see Talbot v TalbotELR ((1968) Ch 1). It was inappropriate to use the probate valuation instead since the incidents of the two valuations were not the same.
In particular, the rights of occupation granted to the testatrix's husband, the Rev Mr...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Freedom of speech and true threats.
...1017. (155.) See id. (156.) See id. (157.) See id. at 1018 n.14. (158.) See id. (159.) See id. at 1019. (160.) See, e.g., LOS ANGELES TIMES, April 13, 2001 at A3 (describing a friend-of-the-court brief filed by forty-three members of Congress calling for the rehearing); National Briefing, N......
-
Privacy and power: computer databases and metaphors for information privacy.
...would go into effect but would be modified at a later date. Robert Pear, Bush Accepts Rules to Guard Privacy of Medical Records, N.Y. TIMES, Apr. 13, 2001, at (269.) 15 U.S.C. [subsections] 6501-06 (2000). (270.) [sections] 6502(a)(1). (271.) [sections] 6502(b)(1)(A)(i). (272.) [sections] 6......
-
Michael Heise, the Political Economy of Education Federalism
...Required Tests, N.Y. TIMES, May 30, 2001, at B9. 143 See Kate Zernike, In High-Scoring Scarsdale, A Revolt Against State Tests, N.Y. TIMES, Apr. 13, 2001, at A1 (describing high-achieving districts' resistance to standardized tests). 144 20 U.S.C. Sec. 7907(a) (Supp. II 2002). 145 See West ......
-
The logic of reciprocity: trust, collective action, and law.
...on Wednesday to jeer at Leona."). (34.) See, e.g., David Cay Johnston, A Smaller I.R.S. Gives up on Billions in Back Taxes, N.Y. TIMES, Apr. 13, 2001, at (35.) See, e.g., Tom Brazaitis, Wimpy IRS Emboldens Cheats, PLAIN DEALER (Cleveland, Ohio), Apr. 18, 2001, at 11B; Amy Feldman & Joan......