A woman and her husband have failed to prove that they are entitled to purchase the family farm for £20,000 once the woman’s mother dies.
Deputy Judge Simon Berry QC has ruled that Michael and Ruth Truelove do not enjoy the right to buy the property in Priors Marston, Warwickshire, from Ruth’s brother, David Wilson, upon the death of Ruth and David’s mother.
The judge held that a 1974 agreement, by which the Trueloves had the right to repurchase Cross Roads Farm, had expired in 1995, under perpetuity laws that restrict the maximum duration of 21 years.
Mr Berry QC said that although, in exceptional circumstances, such as unconscionable behaviour by one party, the courts could allow agreements to remain in effect beyond the 21-year limit, the Trueloves had failed to show that this was such a case.
Wilson and another v Truelove and another Chancery Division (Mr Simon Berry QC, sitting as a deputy judge of the division) 21 February 2003.
Andrew Cosedge (instructed by Toller Hales & Collcutt, of Northampton) appeared for the claimants; Stephen Shaw (instructed by Anthony Collins Solicitors, of Birmingham) appeared for the defendants.
References: PLS News 24/2/03
