Sarah Bolt
Managing Associate
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Sarah is a Managing Associate in the Private Client Dispute Resolution team based in our Bristol office. Sarah has over a decade of experience in dealing with high-value, complex, and cross-border trust, probate, and estate disputes. She joins Freeths having previously worked at Hugh James and offshore in the British Virgin Islands for Harney Westwood & Riegels LP.
Sarah advises on, and has expertise in, a whole range of private client disputes, having acted for a range of charities, financial institutions, private individuals, and independent administrators, including:
- Administration disputes: dealing with problem executors, removal of executors and administrators, seeking directions from the Court
- Burial and funeral disputes
- Charity proceedings and trustee disputes
- Claims under the Inheritance Act 1975
- Contesting a will: capacity, due execution, knowledge and approval, undue influence, fraud or forgery, rectification and construction
- Cross border estate and offshore trust disputes
- Digital assets, including cryptocurrency
- Farming inheritance and succession disputes
- Financial abuse, disputed gifts, and disputes arising in the Court of Protection
- Predatory marriages
- Probate Registry applications: caveat, citations, and subpoenas
- Protecting legacies for charities
- Professional negligence claims in wills, trusts, and estates advice
- Trust claims: proprietary estoppel, resulting and constructive claims, and Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996
- Trust disputes
Sarah’s podcasts
Topical Talks with Title Research – with St John’s Chambers | Episode 19
Discussing ways in which a Will can be contested, practical steps to minimise the risk of challenges arising in the future, and how to avoid common mistakes made in the probate process.
Click here to listen
Topical Talks with Title Research – Will Disputes – with St John’s Chambers | Episode 20
Discussing will dispute trends and why they continue to grow, COVID-19’s impact on Will and inheritance disputes, and practical steps for Private Client Practitioners.
Click here to listen
Further media features
- Life after Lockdown: trends and what to expect in 2023 and beyond | webinar with Fraser & Fraser
- Introducing the winter 2023 edition of Entitlement from Title Research | Todays Will’s & Probate article
- Wills and probate: What to expect in 2023 | | Todays Will’s & Probate article
- Getting to Grips with Express, Resulting & Constructive Trusts – A One Hour Guide | MBL webinar
Legal Services
Contentious Trusts & Probate
National Westminster Bank Plc v Lucas and Others [2014] EWHC 653 and 1683 (Ch): acting for the executor of the Estate of Jimmy Saville to establish a scheme to assess the numerous claims of historic sexual abuse; to successfully defend an application to be removed; and recover associated costs on an indemnity basis.
Lewis v Tamplin [2018] EWHC 777: acting for the successful beneficiaries to obtain copies of information and documentation, including legal advice paid for by the trust, from the trustees who had vigorously refused to provide any disclosure.
Bisrat v Kebede [2017] EWHC 2123 (Ch): long-standing dispute on determination of persons entitled to control a religious charity. Successfully defending the trustees on the construction of key terms within a trust deed; to establish a charitable incorporated organisation, including drafting new governing documents; and recovering associated costs from the rival faction.
Paraskevaides v Citco Trust Corporation and Others BVIHCMAP2018/0046: successfully acting in the Court of Appeal to uphold that the BVI Court had the power to order service out of the jurisdiction of an urgent injunction before a claim form was issued and obtained by the beneficiaries of a trust who sought to restrain a third party from dealing with shares in BVI companies said to be held on trust.
Dunbabin v Dunbabin [2022] EWHC 241 (Ch): successfully challenging the executor to establish that the joint tenancy in the parents’ family home had been severed by notice, mutual agreement, and course of conduct.
Estate of Pietro Enzo Calzaghe and Jacqueline Calzaghe: acting for one of the siblings to successfully remove Joseph Calzaghe as the administrator of his parents’ estates and appoint a judicial trustee to complete investigations, finalise, and distribute the parents’ estates.
To contact Sarah or for more information…
Call: 0345 166 6287
Mobile: 0797 083 4270
Or email: Send an email
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