Charles Cooper | Barrister & Mediator

Category: wills

Elliott v. Bateson [2026] EWHC 2440 (Ch)

In a challenge to validity of a life interest trust will, the Court is ‘…not satisfied that… [the testator] knew and approved of the effect of the life interest trust… because he had not had it explained to him sufficiently clearly…’ and orders that ‘…the words “to pay its income” should be struck out along…
Read more: Elliott v. Bateson [2026] EWHC 2440 (Ch)
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 clause 4 of the will in equal shares’: https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/ch/2026/1006
Read more: Wilkinson v. Kirkham [2026] EWHC 1006 (Ch)
Jenkins & Anor v. Evans [2025] EWHC 2438 (Ch)

In a case where the ‘golden rule’ was not observed, and it was presumed that the appointment of Solicitor executors would be ‘abused… through improper charging’, the evidence of the Solicitor executor as to mental capacity was considered to carry ‘all the weight which the Court of Appeal in Hughes v Pritchard, at [79], contemplated…
Read more: Jenkins & Anor v. Evans [2025] EWHC 2438 (Ch)