Defending brothers' claim that a property was held on trust

Our contentious private client team acted on behalf of the executor of the estate of Anthony Tackaberry and successfully defended a claim that a property registered in his name was held on trust, rather than absolutely owned by his estate.

The claim was made by John Tackaberry QC and his brother, who argued that the property was held by Anthony Tackaberry on constructive trust for the benefit of himself and certain siblings, or alternatively for himself and all of his siblings in equal shares.

However, following a trial which took place over five days, the High Court determined that the property had been purchased by Anthony Tackaberry alone. Furthermore, the High Court ruled that there was no evidence that, at the time the property was acquired, there was an agreement or understanding by Anthony that any of his siblings would be entitled to an interest in it. The High Court also found that the claimants had failed to prove which siblings would have been the intended beneficiaries of any such agreement.

We therefore successfully defended the claim, securing judgment that the property was owned outright by the estate of Anthony Tackaberry. We also obtained an order that the claimants should pay our client's costs.

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