Withers' charity legacy team wins £1.9m legacy dispute involving animal charities

Withers' Trust, Estate and Inheritance Disputes team secured our clients their rightful share in the estate of Candia Midworth.

The case attracted significant press coverage with headlines such as 'Llamas lose battle to bears and donkeys in £2m will row' (The Times) and 'Court rejects organisation’s bid to exclude other animal charities' (Third Sector)

What happened?

Ms Midworth passed away in April 2022. Her 1994 Will leaves her £1.9m estate to 'such of the following [charities] that exist at the date of my death' and names British Camelids Limited, the Brooke Hospital for Animals, the 'Zoo Check Project of the Born Free Foundation', the 'Liberty [sic] Campaign World Society for the Protection of Animals', the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, and the Burstow Wildlife Sanctuary. 

In 1994, the Brooke, Born Free Foundation and World Society for the Protection of Animals (now World Animal Protection) were all unincorporated charities.  As with many charities, they became incorporated in the early 2000s for logistical reasons (e.g. the ease of administration offered by legal personality and to mitigate the risk of trustees taking on personal liabilities). The original unincorporated charities transferred their funds to the incorporated entities, which have new charity numbers under which they now operate. Born Free continues its Zoo Check Project work, and World Animal Protection its 'Libearty' work supporting bears (all parties accepted that 'Liberty' was a misspelling). 

Burstow Wildlife Sanctuary no longer exists. 

British Camelids issued proceedings claiming that the 'original' Brooke, Born Free and World Society for the Protection of Animals also no longer existed because they had become incorporated. Therefore, British Camelids said, their shares in Ms Midworth's estate, along with Burstow's, should pass to British Camelids and Cruelty Free International (the charitable arm of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection) – in other words, dividing the estate between two charities rather than six.

British Camelids also argued that Born Free was no longer carrying out the original Zoo Check campaign and that World Animal Protection was no longer carrying out the Libearty Campaign, despite World Animal Protection providing the Court with a link to the Libearty Bear Sanctuary webcam. Born Free produced evidence of current campaigns monitoring animal treatment in zoos, such as Clawing at the Cages (launched September 2024, over two years after Mrs Midworth's death).

What was the outcome?

On the substantive issue, the Brooke, Born Free and World Animal Protection argued that a gift to a charitable 'unincorporated association' such as the three predecessor charities named in the Will is construed as a gift for the purposes carried out by that charity, unless the gift is conditional on the continued existence of the specific named institution (for example, as in the 1885 case of Re Ovey, an eye hospital in a particular location). In this case, the charities argued, there was nothing to suggest that Mrs Midworth required the charities to 'exist' specifically under those charity numbers. She had to identify the charities somehow and using the charity numbers had assisted.   

The Court agreed that, even though the charity numbers referenced in Ms Midworth's Will are no longer in use, the three existing charities carry out the same charitable purposes as their unincorporated predecessors did when Ms Midworth made her Will. The charitable purposes, and therefore the gifts, survived.

The Court also rejected the suggestion that Born Free and World Animal Protection no longer carry out the work of the original campaigns.  

The Court's judgment means that Ms Midworth's intention to benefit the Brooke, Born Free and World Animal Protection will be upheld.

In a consequentials hearing in September 2025, the Court considered the question of how the Burstow Wildlife Sanctuary's share of the estate ought to be applied. As the Burstow really does no longer exist, its share of the estate survives for its charitable purposes of 'the rescue, care and rehabilitation of wildlife and domestic animals, where possible returning wildlife to its natural habitat or finding homes for wild and domestic animals'.  

The Court accepted the Brooke, Born Free and World Animal Protection's argument that those three charities are best-placed to carry out those purposes, and therefore those three charities will share that gift between them (British Camelids' charitable objects were held not to be capable of carrying out the Burstow's purposes). The estate will be divided as to 4/18 for each  of the Brooke, Born Free and World Animal Protection and 3/18 for British Camelids Limited and Cruelty Free International.

Paul Hewitt, Roger Waite and Rosalind Russell acted for the Brooke, Born Free and World Animal Protection, instructing Owen Curry of XXIV Old Buildings.