Trusts, Tax, Probate & Estates
Recent and ongoing work includes:
- Acting, with Jonathan Hilliard KC, for trustees of a very large offshore family trust structure which holds an international business.
- Acting, as sole counsel, for one the defendants in a High Court claim to set aside various transfers of assets which would otherwise have fallen within the estate of a very wealthy international businessman. The claim involved allegations of undue influence, duress, and unconscionable bargains.
- Acting, with Michael Ashdown, for the beneficiary of a large offshore family trust in a dispute over the proper construction of the trust instrument.
- Advising, with Michael Ashdown, in respect of a potential claim for breach of trust.
- Acting, led by Andrew Mold KC and James Goodwin, in a major international succession dispute spanning various common- and civil-law jurisdictions.
- Acting, as sole counsel, for the widow of a wealthy businessman in a dispute arising out of his will and its administration, and in respect of a potential 1975 Act claim.
- Representing the claimant, as sole counsel, at a Final Dispute Resolution hearing in a 1975 Act case: the settlement reached was unusually favourable for an adult-child claimant.
- Acting as sole counsel for an English trust faced with an application for pre-action disclosure under CPR 31.16 from the judgment creditors of a person alleged to be a beneficiary.
- Advising, as sole counsel, the beneficiary of a trust on the feasibility of resisting an application for Beddoe relief.
- Acting as sole counsel for the one of several holders of the legal title to a property in circumstances where each of the legal owners asserts a 100% beneficial interest in the property by way of a resulting or common-intention constructive trust.
- Advising, as sole counsel, the trustees of a pension fund on the tax implications of a property development.
Property
Ben acted, led by Zoë Barton KC, in a major case over rights of way in prime central London. The dispute involved complex issues of (i) construction of express grants, (ii) s. 62 of the Law of Property Act 1925, and (iii) prescription; it settled at the start of a 14-day trial.
Ben’s real-property practice has also involved a focus on freehold covenants, including (i) the registration of covenants; (ii) the seller’s duties of disclosure in respect of unregistered covenants; and (iii) positive covenants and the mechanisms by which they can bind the covenantor’s successors in title.
Ben has experience of advising on boundary disputes, including as to complex issues around adverse possession, and of acting in nuisance disputes.
Ben also has considerable experience of dealing with complex issues relating to land registration.
Alongside his real-property practice, Ben has considerable experience of residential and commercial possession claims by landlords, by mortgagees, and against trespassers. A good proportion of these have been technically complex and raised difficult points of law or procedure, including (i) the court’s jurisdiction to make a possession order against a freehold co-owner under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973; (ii) the problem of structures left on agricultural land which are in the grey area between chattels and fixtures; (iii) the Animals Act 1971 regime; (iv) uncertainty as to which of various entities is the landlord, in the wake of corporate restructuring; and (v) issues surrounding s. 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. Ben also has substantial experience of contesting disrepair counterclaims by tenants, and of devising ways to settle such claims while obtaining an enforceable order for possession.
Ben has also gained wide experience of other landlord-and-tenant work. Recent cases have involved the implied surrender of leases, the pitfalls of rooftop developments, service charge disputes, and 1954 Act renewals.
Civil fraud and commercial
Recent and ongoing work includes:
- Acting, led by Bobby Friedman, for the defendants in two claims relating to a joint venture.
- Advising, with Tim Penny KC, on a possible claim for fraudulent misrepresentation relating to a large residential property portfolio.
- Acting, as sole counsel, for a company on a possible derivative claim for breach of trust and a possible claim for dishonest assistance against an offshore broker. The claim involves complex jurisdictional issues.
- Acting, led by Jonathan Chew, in a dispute over the ownership of a valuable painting.
- Acting for an online clothing retailer in a contractual dispute with a provider of e-commerce services.
- Defending for a solicitors’ firm against a claim for professional negligence to do with the drafting of a mortgage.
Pensions
Recent and ongoing work includes:
- Advising, with Jonathan Hilliard KC, the trustees of a very large pension fund on complex issues to do with rectification and the validity of historic amendments.
- Acting as sole counsel for the trustees in a High Court claim for the rectification of the trust deed of a large defined-benefit employee pension scheme.
- Acting as sole counsel for the trustees of a pension fund seeking restitution of alleged overpayments to a member.
- Advising, as sole counsel, the trustees of a pension fund contemplating a claim for professional negligence against the fund’s sometime administrators.
- Advising, as sole counsel, the trustees of a pension fund on the tax implications of a property development.
Insolvency
Ben has gained considerable experience on both sides of applications to set aside statutory demands, and has also acted for creditors bringing bankruptcy petitions and seeking to enforce charging orders via orders for sale. Various of these cases have involved difficult procedural issues, especially to do with service.
Other recent work has involved:
- Collective investment schemes under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.
- The setting aside of preferences under s. 340 of the Insolvency Act 1986.
- Defending a claim against the directors of an insolvent company in respect of directors’ loan.
- Undertaking a detailed analysis of insolvency law in the Cayman Islands for a major offshore law firm.
