Track record
Greek Cathedral Trust Fund
Olivia and Steven Kempster represented the claimant trustees of the Greek Cathedral Trust Fund established in the 1880s in seeking declaratory relief in connection with the funds. The High Court decided in Fafalios & Ors v Apodiacos & Ors [2020] EWHC 1189 (Ch) that our clients had the power to direct control of the funds and that, because our clients' application was important to clarifying the correct operation of the trusts, our clients' costs should be paid from the funds held by the defendants. Read the Judgment here.
Nizam of Hyderabad
Olivia, Paul Hewitt and Deborah Nicholls-Carr represented Prince Mukarram Jah, His Exalted Highness Nizam VIII of Hyderabad, in a dispute over funds frozen at Natwest Bank for over 70 years (the subject of a 1958 House of Lords decision Rahimtoola v Nizam of Hyderabad), involving the governments of India and Pakistan. Pakistan issued a new claim in 2013. The High Court decided in Pakistan v Natwest and Ors that the Nizam's claim to the funds should be allowed to proceed. In 2019, the Judge finally upheld the Nizam's claim (along with those of his younger brother and India) which he had assigned to his grandfather's funds. Read the Judgment here. The case was one of The Lawyer's ‘Top 20 Cases of 2019'. In July 2020 we succeeded in ensuring applications to set aside the Judgment and seeking disclosure of various documents were dismissed. See the Times of India's report here.
Isle of Man trust structure
Olivia and Stephen Richards, working with Isle of Man advocates, acted for two high net worth individuals in their application to set aside a previous transfer of shares into an Isle of Man trust structure, which mistakenly resulted in adverse tax consequences. We also advised on making the relevant arrangements for minor and unborn beneficiaries. Read the Judgment here.
Jersey trust structure
Working with Jersey advocates, Olivia and Steven Kempster acted for an ultra-high net worth family in their application to reverse historic transfers of luxury London properties into a Jersey trust structure, which resulted in unintentional tax liabilities. We also advised on notifying HMRC. Read the Judgment here.
Talks
- Trust Litigation Academy, Believing the Hype - Crypto, ESG and other buzz assets - April 2023
- Legacy Labyrinth, Update on the 1975 Act – January 2023
- Legacy Labyrinth, Thinking about Domicile – January 2022
- Legacy Labyrinth, Conflict and Legacies – January 2021
- Legacy Labyrinth, Courts and ADR in times of Covid – January 2021
- Legacy Labyrinth, Serious Incident Reporting and the Charity Commission – January 2020
- Legacy Labyrinth, Legal update 2019 - January 2019