Home
Services
Private Client
Private Client Disputes

Private Client Disputes

Our private client disputes group combines our pre-eminent private client and litigation practices.

We have particular expertise in high value, complex multi-jurisdictional trust disputes and have recently co-ordinated trust-related litigation in a number of different jurisdictions including Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Liechtenstein, Bermuda, BVI, Jersey and Guernsey.

We maintain long-standing, trusted relationships with our clients, as much to avoid litigation as to help guide them through it. Our lawyers are more than litigators: they are trusted advisers. They work closely with our market-leading private client team to provide a seamless service and to ensure that tax issues are fully integrated into the strategy for resolving a dispute.

Given the breadth of our litigation practice, we act for a wide range of clients, national and international, including trust companies; banks and financial institutions; investors and high-net-worth individuals from many different backgrounds. This gives us insight into a broad spectrum of businesses and individuals - which is of significant value when dealing with the diverse range of assets and family situations encountered in trust, probate and family disputes.

The range of services which the practice provides includes:

Trust litigation

breach of trust claims;
variation of trust applications;
directions for the administration of trusts;
blessing applications;
removal of trustees;
international commercial disputes involving trustees;
fraud and asset tracing;
trust disputes in the context of English matrimonial proceedings;
pre-emptive cost orders;
litigating rights of beneficiaries/creditors;
rectification, mistake and Hastings-Bass applications;
constructive trust claims;
knowing receipt and accessory liability; and
construction applications.

Probate litigation

challenges to the validity of wills;
claims against professional advisors;
undue influence/recovery of property;
removal/replacement of executors;
Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975 claims;
paternity disputes;
breach of duty allegations; and
applications to the court (including the Coroner) for directions.

Recent work

Resolution of a difficult family dispute

Successfully negotiating the resolution of a difficult family dispute over the running of a major industrial company and the entitlement of various members of the family to shares in the trusts which owned it. As well as advising on numerous pieces of contested litigation and a successful mediation, we also acted in relation to applications for blessing the implementation of the agreed settlement and related applications to vary the trusts.

Heirs of an estate

Acting for the heirs of the estate of a wealthy businessman and his wife. There was an acrimonious dispute which involved questions of capacity, theft, and trusts issues, and we have been overseeing multiple international proceedings for many years. We have advised on probate, Court of Protection and High Court proceedings. The parties recently settled the core dispute following a Beddoes application by the administrator of the estate: we played a central role in negotiations and in bringing the dispute to a conclusion.

High-profile investors

Advising high-profile investors on a fraud/asset tracing claim against a fraudster, which involved extending and defending freezing orders over a number of assets held in offshore family trusts of which the fraudster was not a named beneficiary.

Trustee of Bermudian trusts

Representing the trustee of Bermudian trusts in relation to a breach of trust claim arising out of the mistaken appointment of UK-resident trustees. We led a series of proceedings in Bermuda which successfully secured the revocation of the appointment under the Bermudian statutory Hastings-Bass jurisdiction (the first judgment of its kind) and, in addition, dealt with another transaction which needed to be revoked for common mistake.

Protector of substantial family trusts

We acted for a protector of substantial family trusts on a dispute about the validity of his appointment and subsequent acts carried out. We are also acting in proceedings in which our client was removed as trustee of very substantial trusts. Both cases concern the rights and duties of protectors and the interaction with trustees, settlors and beneficiaries; the duties of fiduciaries in difficult circumstances; the interpretation of complex trust deeds; the extent of the rights of former trustees over the trust fund; and involved questions regarding conflicts of interest.

A number of trustees

We have acted for a number of trustees whom the English court has joined or sought otherwise to involve in English matrimonial proceedings. We have advised in numerous instances on whether trustees should submit to the jurisdiction of the English court; how they should respond to requests for information; the effect of offshore “firewall” legislation designed to protect trusts from inference by courts seized with divorce proceedings; directions proceedings in offshore jurisdictions; and ways of brokering settlements.

Offshore trustees

Acting on a number of breach of trust claims against offshore trustees in relation to alleged negligent supervision of financial advisers. We have acted in relation to claims worth many tens or hundreds of millions of pounds. Such claims raise complex legal issues, including the extent of the protection provided by exoneration clauses in trust deeds and deeds of retirement and indemnity; the extent of the inherent duty of supervision of a trustee when investment management responsibility is vested in a third party; the appropriate way to calculate loss and damage in such disputes; and potential third-party claims.

Heir to an estate

Acting for an heir to an estate governed by foreign law in relation to assets which, it was claimed, were misappropriated from the estate. We successfully secured English jurisdiction over a number of the claims having coordinated a team of international lawyers and prominent members of the English bar. We have a long track record of successfully acting on such matters. This includes having acted for the Al Bassam family in relation to a claimant’s fraudulent claim to be a wife of Abdulaziz Al Bassam, in the course of which we represented the family’s interests in both the Coroner’s court and related litigation.

See all

See all contacts

Charles Lloyd

Partner

+44 (0)20 7849 2338 Email Charles

Jonathan Arr

Partner

+44 (0)20 7849 2810 Email Jonathan

Quick reads

View next 5

See all Quick reads

In depth

What people are saying

"Macfarlanes is blessed with a team of specialists for this work, from associate level through to partner level. Charles Lloyd is one of the best lawyers in the country. He is incredibly user-friendly with clients while being firm with opponents."

The UK Legal 500 2023