Question 1
Richard wishes to make the following dispositions in his will:
£10,000 to the Bilal, the Imam of Portsmouth Mosque, upon trust to distribute amongst such good and philanthropic purposes as Aisha shall select;
£500 to Matthew to maintain my herd of New Forest ponies until the last one dies;
£12,000 to The Old Canfordian Dining Association. It is my wish that the Association use the money for an annual Old Boys dinner, clay pigeon shoot and recitation of our old school song in my memory;
£15,000 to the University of Portsmouth Football Club, to hire pitches, purchase kit and footballs, and to fund the Club’s annual tour to Santiago Bernabeu.
The Old Canfordian Dining Association does not have any formal rules but is a name given by themselves to a group of twelve friends from Canford School, including Richard, who always meet for an annual reunion dinner at Richard’s Hampshire estate.
The University of Portsmouth Football Club (UPFC) plays matches in the South Coast Academic League and is open to staff, students and alumni of The University of Portsmouth. It has formal rules that all members must agree to before joining and its assets are controlled by the Club’s Secretary. All decisions of the UPFAC are subject to veto by the University of Portsmouth Executive Board.
Advise Richard on the validity of the dispositions.
Question 2
Sinita has recently retired following a long and very successful career as one of the country’s leading stylists. She has come to talk to you about setting up various charitable trusts so that her legacy can live on. She tells you that,
(a) She would like to set up the Spinnaker Private Hospital Trust. Its function would be to establish and run a fee-paying hospital in Portsmouth devoted to cosmetic surgery. She tells you that it will have luxury accommodation so that wealthy clients can “walk through the doors and kiss their blemishes farewell”. Sinita wants the hospital to have charitable status and wants it to campaign nationally for beauty treatments to be tax free. She tells you that she already has a number of her old (and well known clients) who are willing to help with future campaigns. Sinita says that there would be reduced fees for patients who apply for assistance and need it, but she is adamant that family members of her old employees from her company, Simply Sinita, should benefit the most from any discount.
(b) She also wishes to set up a trust to promote awareness of Power Pilates. Sinita has been a Power Pilates (PP) practitioner for more than 20 years and she puts her incredible vitality and fabulous career as well as her toned body, sparkling skin and carefree happiness down to it. Followers of PP believe that improvements to personal wellbeing come from awareness of the whole self, and commit to spending two hours per day in self-contemplation while doing the “oyster” and the “cobra” moves. They believe that this leads to a more moral and ethical way of life. PP practitioners run courses for the general public to spread awareness of the practice.
(c) Sinita also wants to set up a trust for poor members of her family. Although currently Sinita’s immediate family are all quite wealthy she would like a fund for anyone who might fall on hard times. She wants this to be a charitable trust.
(d) Sinita is also the executor of her Aunt Amara’s will.
The will left £20,000 to the New Forest Wildlife Appreciation Society. Sinita has tried to find out about the group and now is certain that it never existed. There was a group called the Animals of the New Forest Society, but it had been wound up and disbanded two years before Aunt Amara’s death.
Advise Sinita whether the trusts she wants to set up could be charitable, and advise on the validity of the legacy to the New Forest Wildlife Appreciation Society.
Question 3
Harold and Meg are an unmarried couple. They met while travelling in India after graduating University in 2003. Harold is from a wealthy background but has spent the last of his savings travelling after getting a 3rd class honours in his Art History degree. Meg is from a poor background but has obtained a very good degree in Economics. Back in London they decide to move in together. Meg has got a well-paid job in investment banking. Harold is volunteering at the Tate National Gallery to get experience, and he also earns money by delivering packages on his bike. After two years of renting, Meg receives a large bonus at work and decides to use it as a deposit on a flat. In early 2006 she buys a flat at 314 Dockland Towers for a price of £350,000 which is registered in her sole name. She uses her bonus and savings totalling £110,000 as a deposit and funds the rest of the purchase by a mortgage for £240,000 in her own name. Harold moves in and lives with her in the flat from the outset, but the relationship is still boyfriend and girlfriend. Harold makes contributions to bills during the next 12 months, totalling about £1000 per month. He pays that money directly into Meg’s account from which she pays all bills including the mortgage. In 2007 Harold asks Meg to marry him and they get engaged, however they never actually go through with the wedding. At this point Harold stops contributing to the household bills as he has begun to volunteer with an art project for disadvantaged youths in Croydon and because Meg is making plenty of money to fund their lifestyle. In 2009 Harold inherits £20,000 from a distant Uncle, he agrees to give this to Meg to pay towards the mortgage on 314 Dockland Towers as he has contributed much less to the flat, and they plan to get married in the future. Meg uses this and another bonus to pay off the mortgage entirely.
In 2014 Meg has a very good year and earns a very large bonus of £500,000. She and Harold are still engaged but have not got married. They have been trying to have children but without success, and the doctors have told them that the stress of Meg’s work may be a factor. Meg and Harold discuss how much they would like to move out of the city. They start looking for a countryside property on the South Coast and they buy a large house in Sussex called Clifftops for £800,000. This purchase is registered in joint names and is funded by Meg’s bonus and a £300,000 mortgage also in joint names. Meg and Harold start to go there at the weekends. In 2016 Harold gets a low paid job as an organiser for a small art collective in Battersea, he loves this job but it involves weekend work and he starts to spend some weekends on his own at 314 Dockland Towers. While he is earning, he starts to contribute to the Mortgage on Clifftops and the bills on both properties. Meg is increasingly determined to have children and decides she wants to adopt a child and move into Clifftops full time. This causes Meg and Harold to argue as he increasingly wants to live full time in London. In 2018 Meg successfully adopts two young siblings. She has substantial savings and decides to resign from her investment banking job in London and takes a flexible job for much lower pay at Sussex Council. She moves permanently to Clifftops and decides she wants to sell 314 Dockland Towers. Harold is furious at this decision and feels his needs are being ignored. Meg and Harold break off their engagement and split up.
Advise Harold and Meg as an unmarried couple on the legal ownerships and the beneficial ownerships of 314 Dockland Towers and Clifftops under any possible Common Intention Constructive Trusts.
Question 4
The will of Lady Imani Furaha contains the following provisions:
I leave my property at Natal Hall to my son Azizi with the sincerest desire that he should use it for the benefit of the whole family as a place for them to meet on special occasions.
I leave my collection of valuable gemstones to my daughters Grace and Binti with Binti to select gems totalling half the value of the collection.
I leave a reasonable number of my shares in my company Kiboko Ltd to the CEO Claire so that she can continue to run the company in an efficient manner.
I leave £500,000 to my close relatives equally.
I leave the residue of my estate to my husband Mulele for his use with the instruction that on his death he shall donate the remainder to Oxfam in his will.
Advise the Executors of Lady Imani’s will on the validity of these clauses under the rules of the three certainties.
Question 5
Ritchie is an undistinguished solicitor advocate at an unremarkable law firm in a fading coastal town. His dreams of soaring rhetoric are unfulfilled by each week’s pleas in mitigation for the local shoplifters (again) before the Borehampton magistrates (again) – and he knows that it will be the same next week (again).
But Ritchie has a plan. He has set his heart on becoming an Honorary QC. Then he can receive the dramatic cases (and perhaps even the fees) that he craves.
His first step is to persuade – with money – three of the local District Judges to support his nomination for Honorary QC status. He guesses that £20,000 each (the last of his savings) might be about right. Since they appear receptive to his offer – and take the money – Ritchie supposes that he has guessed rightly.
His second step is to find somewhere more suitable for a soon-to-be-QC to live. He persuades the Southern Pebble Bank (SPB) to lend him £1m to buy and start renovating Borehampton Manor (the Manor). SPB insist that the money is solely to be used for that house purchase and paid into a separate account at his Bank. So Ritchie negotiates the Manor’s price down to £500,000, and pays that from the account monies as SPB had required. The other £500,000 is left in the account.
However, and thirdly, Ritchie soon withdraws £250,000 and passes it to his ex-wife Tracey “so that you can live like an Honorary QC’s ex-wife now.” Tracey is very happy to do so. The last £250,000 Ritchie uses to buy a cottage for her elderly parents, on the far side of town so that Tracey can more easily care for them since they are frail and unable to manage their own affairs. He has it put into her parents’ names “so that you can feel secure now,” as he tells them.
Sadly, Ritchie’s dreams all evaporate when he is arrested for corruption offences: the District Judges he approached went straight to the Police. Because he cannot readily repay SPB their loan, Ritchie fears being made bankrupt.
Which (if any) of these items of money and property might (a) Ritchie and (b) SPB be able to recover using Resulting Trusts and related arguments, and why?
