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16 December 2010 / Michael Tringham
Issue: 7446 / Categories: Features , Wills & Probate
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Dogs at law

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Michael Tringham reports on a poignant US case & grapples with longevity statistics

A pet, they say, is not just for Christmas. Research from “find-a-solicitor” website Unbiased.co.uk shows that 1.5 million Britons intend to bequeath property to their pets. But any legal disputes that might emerge in the UK will pale in comparison with Carr v Mellon Private Trust Co & others in Florida’s Miami Dade-County probate court.

Hollywood film maker Bret Carr is the son of testatrix Gail Posner, legacies in whose will include: an $8m Miami Beach mansion for her three dogs, plus $3m for said canines’ lifetime care; some $25m for her housekeepers, personal assistants, bodyguards and personal trainer—but only a $1m trust fund for Mr Carr.

This is one of the more poignant sections of the trust instrument that controls Ms Posner’s will: “It is the settlor’s wish that the trustees ensure that her dogs receive the same degree of care that the settlor provided for said dogs during her lifetime. In addition it is the settlor’s wish (although in

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

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Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Chair of the Association of Pension Lawyers joins as partner

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Blake Morgan—four promotions

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Four legal directors promoted to partner across UK offices

NEWS
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The abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC

NLJ this week: Civil procedure gets a spring overhaul
Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
NLJ this week: Why GP complaints are going nowhere
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
NLJ this week: Prenups meet a jurisdictional brick wall
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
NLJ this week: Has Rylands v Fletcher come back from the dead?
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
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