Muirhead v Muirhead, (1890) 17 R (HL) 45
Citation:Muirhead v Muirhead, (1890) 17 R (HL) 45
Rule of thumb:If a person is given a gift under a will but has no intention to use it properly, does this invalidate it? Yes it does. If someone is given a life-rent to live in a property under a will, can they sub-let this to someone else for profit? No, they cannot.
Judgment:
This case affirmed that the ‘non-transfer of life-rents over property’ – not everyone who is granted property assets through a will is given outright ownership of them, and where someone is given an entitled to hold the property from a will under a ‘liferent’, they are not allowed to sell or transfer this property to a third party who the testator never knew – if the legatee granted the property no longer wishes to hold it then the property returns to the trust to be dealt with by the trustee. This case also confirmed that where there has been a negtive intention, meaning that the property will not be used properly, then this can invalidate a transfer.
Ratio-decidendi:
‘It is, in my opinion, essential that the beneficiaries to whom the trustees are directed to pay or convey shall have a vested and indefeasible interest in the provision... I cannot conceive that it should be in the power of any Court to give the testator’s estate to any persons other than those whom he has appointed to take... it is impossible to hold as a matter of principle... with regard to the vesting of interests in his estate...’, Lord Watson at 48-50
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.