IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT
CHANCERY DIVISION
LEEDS DISTRICT REGISTRY
(MR JUSTICE BLACKBURNE)
Strand London, WC2 Thursday, 4 October 2002 |
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B e f o r e :
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DOUGLAS WILLIAM DAWSON BELL | Claimant/Applicant | |
-v- | ||
(1) SOTIRA ELLEN GEORGIOU | ||
(2) ROYAL AIR FORCE BENEVOLENT FUND | Defendants/Respondents |
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The Respondent did not appear and was not represented.
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Crown Copyright ©
"3. I give free of tax and duties the sum of One hundred and fifty Thousand pounds (£150,000) unto my son Douglas William Dawson Bell . . .
5. I give devise and bequeath all the remainder of my estate . . . upon the following trusts . . . "
There are a number of specific legacies, the last three of which were to other charities. Then she directed that if, after payment of the bequest made by paragraph 3 of the will and the payment of debts, funeral and testamentary expenses and taxes payable on or by reason of her death, there should be insufficient monies in her residuary estate to meet in full the legacies mentioned in clause 5, then those legacies should be calculated in the proportion that each such legacy payable to each of the legatees bore to the total value of the estate. Then, by a separate gift, the will provides:
"as to residue after such payments upon trust for the RAF Benevolent Fund in memory of my late husband Squadron Leader WED Bell DFC."