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07 August 2015 / Henrietta Mason , Paola Fudakowska
Issue: 7664 / Categories: Features , Wills & Probate
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Setting things straight

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Henrietta Mason & Paola Fudakowska return with a wills & probate update

The tabloids picked up on the case of Dellal v Dellal [2015] EWHC 907 (Fam), [2015] All ER (D) 43 (Apr), involving the estate of high rolling gambler Jack Dellal and his former beauty queen wife. The case deals with procedural questions and is a useful reminder of the differences between, and principles of, applications for summary judgment and strike out. So what can practitioners learn from it?

Lessons from Dellal

In Dellal , the court refused to strike out or determine by summary judgment the claimant widow’s claim for provision from the deemed net estate of her husband under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (the 1975 Act).

Mr Dellal was a very wealthy property tycoon, listed in The Sunday Times Rich List as worth around £445m in the year he died and (tabloid reports would have it) prone to gambling away £1m in a single night in the casinos of Mayfair and Monaco.

He died in 2012,

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NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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