A 13-year dispute between two brothers over a Devonshire farm left in a will has ended
A 13-year dispute between two brothers over a Devonshire farm left in a will has ended after the Supreme Court unanimously dismissed the appeal for being time-barred.
In Roberts v Gill & Co Solicitors and others [2010] UKSC 22, Mark Roberts and his brother John were beneficiaries of a will made by their grandmother, Alice Roberts. The will provided that if John paid all the inheritance tax due then a farm would pass to him, while another property would pass to his brother.
When the grandmother died, John paid some but not all of the inheritance tax, transferred ownership of the farm to himself, as administrator of the estate, and then sold it and used the proceeds to pay the remainder of the tax. Mark brought a legal claim against his brother and his brother’s solicitors, the two separate firms of Gill & Co and Whitehead Vizard.
The claim was framed in such a way as to allege that the duty of care was owed by the firms of solicitors to the appellant, Mark Roberts, personally. However, the correct legal position is that the duty of care is owed to the estate of the deceased. A beneficiary can only bring a claim where “special circumstances” exist.
The appellant applied to amend his claim to continue it on behalf of the estate. However, the justices ruled the amendment was time-barred under s 35 of the Limitation Act 1980.
