Word count: 3000 words (excluding indented quotations of more than 50 words.
ASSESSMENT QUESTION
ANSWER ALL PARTS OF QUESTIONS 1 AND 2.
TOTAL MARKS AVAILABLE 100
SEE MODULE GUIDE FOR ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
Question 1
Maximum word limit – 1100 Total Marks 40
Barry Wilson of Squirrels Leap, Riverside Lane, Denton, Suffolk died last month aged 86. As an executor of his will, Mr Alan Watson has instructed Mrs Kamala Patel a Solicitor and Partner of Peters LLP Solicitors to advise him on a number of issues that are a cause of concern to him regarding the deceased’s homemade will which was made on the 22nd May 2003. He had apparently made this will after he had returned home following a long convalescence in an Ipswich nursing home as a result of a stroke.
Mr Watson is not sure what his responsibilities are regarding him being the executor of Barry Wilson’s will and wants to know what this role entails. Mr Wilson appointed two executors and the other person is Matilda Wilson whom Mr Watson knows divorced Mr Wilson in June 2004 and now lives in Luxembourg. He wants to know what her role will be.
He is also concerned that Mr Wilson seems to have made a codicil on the 18th of November 2012 which has revoked a legacy of £50,000.00 [fifty thousand pounds] in his will that he left to Ms Felicity Grant his housekeeper of ten years. Mr Watson has heard that this occurred one evening at a social club party when in a state of intoxication Mr Wilson had on the back of a paper dinner plate revoked this legacy of £50,000.00 [fifty thousand pounds] to Ms Felicity Grant. He wants to know is this codicil valid or does he have to pay out this legacy. He wants to know what the terms ‘general legacy’ and ‘pecuniary legacy’ mean and would like these fully explained to him.
He thinks Mr Wilson has a son called James Wilson who was last heard of living in Mumbai, India. He has left the residue of his estate to his daughter Anne Canning and his nephew Nathan Metcalfe. He knows that Nathan lives in Harstonbury, Suffolk but at present does not know where Anne Canning lives, although he does know she works somewhere in London. Mr Watson is concerned that Mr Barry Wilson has spelt Nathan’s surname incorrectly as ‘Matcalf’ in his will and whether this invalidates the legacy to him. He also wants to know how he can trace and inform Anne Canning of her legacy and what steps he as an executor can take to protect himself if he cannot trace her.
Mr Watson is concerned that the will has been torn and he does not know how this happened. The last three letters of the testator’s surname has been torn off along with the end of the date the will was signed. In the will, Mr Wilson has made a £25,000.00 [twenty five thousand pounds] gift to Mr Watson but he wishes to refuse the legacy of £25,000.00 [twenty five thousand pounds] as he doesn’t need the money and does not want to upset his own estate planning and tax position. He would like it to go to the Trees for Life Council, a national charity. He is not sure what steps, if any, he would have to take to do this.
Finally, Mr Watson has been very pleased with the service that Peters LLP has provided to him and his family over a number of years and in particular Mrs Patel. He has decided that he wants to insert a legacy into his own will, which was prepared by Peters LLP some time ago, of a payment to Mrs Kamala Patel of £20,000.00 [twenty thousand pounds] when he dies. He wants Mrs Patel to draft a codicil to achieve this. In the event Mrs Patel predeceases him then he wants the gift to go to Mr George McKenzie a Legal Executive who works for Peters LLP.
Please discuss the issues that arise in this case
You are not required to discuss the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.
Question 2
ANSWER BOTH PARTS (a) AND (b)
Maximum words limit 1900 words.
Question 2 (a) Total marks 15
Question 2 (b) Total marks 45
David Wall died on the 2nd November of 2013. He left a will dated the 8th of September 1993. The will was validly executed in accordance with Section 9 of the Wills Act 1837.
The will contained the following provisions:
1. I appoint my wife Lucy Wall as executrix of my will and in the event of her
predeceasing me then I appoint my cousin Thomas Menon to be my executor of this my
will
2. I give to my friend Jonathan my Beneteau 670 Motor Boat and my Honda 580
Adventurer Inflatable Rib Boat
3. I give to my children Charlotte Campbell and Angus Wall the sum of £200,000.00 [TWO
HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS] each
4. To my good friend Georgina Moncrieff I give my Georgian Oak Bureau
5. I leave my 1964 Porsche 356 C classic car to my niece Brenda Raishbrook
6. I leave £15,000.00 [FIFTEEN THOUSAND POUNDS] to the East Anglia Canine Rescue
Society to help save the lives of abandoned dogs
7. I give the remainder of my estate subject to the above dispositions to my wife
Lucy Wall
Since David’s death, the following information has been established.
1. Lucy died in April 2006.
2. His cousin, Thomas Menon does not want to be the executor of David’s will. He has decided recently that he wants to sail single handed around the world and will be departing from Southampton in about three months’ time. Accordingly he would not have any time to administer David’s Estate. At the time of David’s death he obtained the death certificate and certified copies and made the funeral arrangements. He paid the local newsagent’s bill of £14.56p.
3. David Wall had two friends called Jonathan.
4. Charlotte died last year in a glider accident when her glider collided with the tow plane at 3000 feet above Cambridge airport and plummeted to the ground. She left two children Katherine (22 years of age) and Heather (16 years of age). Her older brother Angus is married and lives with his wife Ana Sofía in Ibiza in the Balearic Islands. They do not have any children.
5. The Honda 580 Adventurer Inflatable Rib Boat was stolen from Buckden Marina in Cambridgeshire in 2012. It was never recovered.
6. The 1964 Porsche 356 C classic car was sold by David in 2009 and he bought a 1965 Mercedes Benz 230SL with the proceeds of the sale.
7. David’s Georgian Oak Bureau has been loaned to the Saffron Walden Heritage Museum in Essex. He did this five years before he died.
8. Lucy Wall had been married before she met David and had a son from that marriage called Sam. Sam was eight years of age at the time his mother Lucy married David. Sam had always been treated as part of the family both financially and emotionally by David. He had been left out of David’s will.
9. The East Anglia Canine Rescue Society, a registered charity ceased to exist three years prior to his death.
Please advise:
2 (a) Who will be responsible for administering David’s estate?
2 (b) How will David’s estate be distributed?
Include key cases where similar circumstances and outcomes relate to this case study.
