In re Erskine 1948 Trust

Subject Matter

SETTLEMENT — Construction — Statutory next of kin — English settlement made in 1948 — Trustees holding trust property “for the statutory next of kin of the beneficiary at the date of her death on the footing that she died a spinster” — Whether trust fund vesting in adopted nephews of beneficiary as statutory next of kin — Whether claims negated because nephews adopted so that beneficiary’s cousins statutory next of kin — Whether Convention right not to be discriminated against in enjoyment of Convention rights affecting construction of settlement — Administration of Estates Act 1925 (as amended by Intestates’ Estates Act 1952, s 1(3)(b)), ss 46(1)(v), 50(1) — Adoption of Children Act 1926, s 5 — Human Rights Act 1998, s 3, Sch 1, Pt I, arts 8, 14

[2012] EWHC 732 (Ch); [2013] Ch 135; [2012] 3 WLR 913; [2012] 3 All ER 532; [2012] 2 FLR 725; [2012] 3 FCR 114; [2012] WLR (D) 104; (2012) 162 NLJ 577; The Times, 10 July 2012, Ch D