Proprietary Estoppel remedy and an award under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975
Duncan Heath secures farm for Claimant with debts apportioned between the Claimant’s farm and his brother’s farm in a case showing the breadth of the Court’s jurisdiction in proprietary estoppel claims.
The Claimant, Richard, and the First Defendant, Simon, each farmed a farm belonging to their parents. Richard was disinherited. He brought a successful proprietary estoppel claim resulting in an order that one farm be transferred to him.
Unfortunately, Richard’s farm was encumbered by a charge granted to the Bank to secure lending which benefitted both farms, whilst Simon’s farm was virtually unencumbered.
Mr Andrew Sutcliffe, sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge in the Business & Property Courts in Leeds, held that farm debts should be apportioned between the two farms, resulting in Richard obtaining a farm worth £3.2m subject to a debt of £1.35m (and subject to the Bank giving effect to the judgment).
The judgment may also be of interest to contentious probate lawyers, as the Judge considered the Claimant’s alternative claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 and held that he would have awarded the Claimant an outright interest in a residential property worth £350,000 rather than a life interest.
