Crumpton’s JF v Barnardo’s House, 1917 SC 713, 1917 SLT 100
Citation: Crumpton’s JF v Barnardo’s House, 1917 SC 713, 1917 SLT 100
Rule of thumb: If a person is named in a will and dies, but has no known family members, could this pass onto a distant cousin? Yes, as long as the person is specifically named it could pass onto a distant cousin(s) potentially.
Judgment:
The Court in this case affirmed the principle of ‘express destination’ to create accretion – a principle also called substitution - if someone is named in a will and then they die before receiving this it automatically passes on to their own immediate heirs or distant cousins, but if it is stated that if they die then it goes expressly to another person, then accretion. The facts of this case were the testator died and left a legacy to payment of £8,000 (worth around £650,000 in today’s money) to their nephew, which was to be invested on his behalf with him to receive the interest gained on this. It was stated in this legacy that if the nephew died before the testator then the £8,000 would expressly go to the ‘Bernardos Charity’, rather than any other survivors of the nephew. The nephew survived the testator for some time and the £8,000 trust passed to him, but the nephew then passed away as well some time after, with the £8,000 trust still live and operating. The nephew died intestate and without children, and Bernardos argued that this the nephew’s trust fund should pass to them. The Court held that once the testator died the nephew inherited this trust fund from the testator, which meant that if he died then the trust fund passed on to any potential heirs or distant cousins he had himself, rather than Bernardos. Although it was acknowledged that these types of clauses were valid to create substitution, Barnardos were not entitled to this trust fund in this particular instance, ‘The natural meaning of those words is died without issue prior to the death of the testatrix, and not died at any time before or after death. Otherwise ... the words “heirs, executors and administrators absolutely” would be destitute of meaning’, Lord President Strathclyde at 102
Warning: This is not professional legal advice. This is not professional legal education advice. Please obtain professional guidance before embarking on any legal course of action. This is just an interpretation of a Judgment by persons of legal insight & varying levels of legal specialism, experience & expertise. Please read the Judgment yourself and form your own interpretation of it with professional assistance.