Promises, Promises

An interesting case on legally enforceable promises (or proprietary estoppel) has recently been decided in the Court of Appeal. In the case of Bradbury-v-Taylor, a widower had invited his nephew and partner to move into part of his large house in Cornwall and provide him with help and support. There were discussions about the precise terms but the Court upheld the nephews view following his uncle’s death that a promise had been made that he would receive the property on the uncle’s death; the nephew had relied upon that promise and had suffered a detriment in leaving his home in Sheffield to look after his uncle.

What is particularly interesting is that the case was resolved after the uncle’s death but had commenced during his lifetime and he had strongly disagreed that he had made any promise and that there had been any detriment to his nephew in going to live in the large house in Cornwall and enjoying the lifestyle that went with it. The fact that the uncle died without making any substantial provision for the nephew in his will was deemed to be immaterial by the judge who awarded the nephew the Cornish house.

The moral of the tale is that we should be very careful about the promises we make as, in the right circumstances, a Court will uphold them meaning that other family members may lose out.

For more information please contact Mark Francis on 01702 352511.