Henrietta Mason & Chris Williams report on two intriguing recent cases involving undue influence & excessive costs
- The benefits of early investigation of evidence.
- Removal and substitution of personal representative and associated costs.
It is rare to see a successful summary judgment application in an estate dispute. It is even more rare for a successful summary judgment application in an undue influence case. But this is what happened in the recent case of Moursi v Doherty [2019] EWHC 830 (Ch), [2019] All ER (D) 47 (Apr).
The facts
An application for summary judgment asks that judgment be given at an early stage in the litigation process without key stages of litigation being reached, for example disclosure, and without the opportunity for witnesses to be cross-examined at trial. A successful summary judgment application by (in this case) a claimant, requires that the claimant show that the defendant has no realistic prospect of successfully defending the claim at trial.
Estate disputes tend to be heavily fact-based and it is difficult to see how a judge can reach the conclusion that the defendant
