Judgement was handed down today in Hanson v Coleman

Judgement was handed down today in Hanson v Coleman (Costs) [2025] EWHC 116 (Ch) the full decision is available here

Toby Bishop was instructed by Lisa Waghorne of Warners Solicitors in assisting the claimant in her application to remove her brothers as executors of their father’s estate.

The Master dismissed the brothers’ application to indemnify themselves from the estate in respect of both their own legal costs of opposing removal and the costs they had been ordered to pay their sister.

This contested removal was “hostile beneficiaries’ litigation” (as contested removal applications usually are). The outgoing executors were not engaged in this litigation for the benefit of the estate and could not rely on section 31 of the Trustee Act 2000 for an indemnity.

The brothers’ attempt to expand their indemnity by reliance on an exemption clause failed because the estate had not suffered a loss. It would only do so if the brothers were to pay the litigation costs out of the estate. If they did so in reliance on the exemption clause, they would lose its protection.