Yesterday, Deputy Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Frith handed down judgment in the matter of Palmer & Hook v Collins & Others following a two-day trial.

Andrew Brown acted on behalf of the successful trustees in bankruptcy, Julie Palmer and Andrew Hook of BTG. The judge gave judgment that a property was held beneficially for the bankruptcy estate of the bankrupt despite a defence being raised of a common intention constructive trust alleged to have been created on behalf of the alleged beneficiaries via an agency relationship by family members (the judge distinguished the present matter from the case of Fox v Bent [2024] EWHC 2179 (Ch).

Andrew was successful in his submissions that the detrimental reliance could not be given by a proxy to an alleged beneficiary to a CICT, and further that following cross-examination and upon a proper interpretation of the contemporaneous material there was no indication of an express or inferred common intention to create a trust. Andrew was instructed by Dipesh Dosani of Lincoln & Rowe