• March 28, 2024
 The Voice singer, Bo Bruce, wins £2 million inheritance dispute

The Voice singer, Bo Bruce, wins £2 million inheritance dispute

A court ruling over an inheritance dispute between aristocratic pop singer Bo Bruce (Lady Catherine Anna Brudenell-Bruce) and her brother Thomas (Viscount Savernake) has been announced, deciding the outcome of their £2 million inheritance, almost a decade after their mother died.

Bo Bruce a former contestant on popular TV show “The Voice” has won a court battle against her brother Thomas over a £2 million inheritance left to them by their mother Lady Rosamond, the former Countess of Cardigan.

Lady Rosamond died of cancer in 2012, leaving her estate to her two children Bo and Thomas in equal shares. The estate included the countess’s home, Leigh Hill House, which she received in her divorce from David Brudenell-Bruce, Earl of Cardigan in 2009.

At trial, the High Court heard that Thomas, the administrator of the estate, had not sold the house and shared the inheritance with his sister. This was despite requests from his pop star sister Bo to sell the property as she was “desperate for money”. Thomas still lives in the house and the court was told that he refused to agree to his sister’s requests.

Bo therefore sued her brother in the High Court and a judge has now ordered that Thomas should be removed as estate executor, and that the house, valued at £2.4 million should be sold.

The judge, deputy master John Linwood, said that Thomas, who wanted to keep the house in the family, had “ignored his responsibilities” to his sister as executor of the will.

Commenting on the case, Thomas Klemme, Associate, Wedlake Bell LLP said:

“The recent case involving the singer Bo Bruce, formally known as Lady Catherine Brudenell-Bruce, and her mother’s estate is a timely reminder not only of the duties of personal representatives (‘PRs’) to administer estates, but also the remedies available to beneficiaries to enforce their rights.

Under s.25 of the Administration of Estates Act 1925, PRs are under a duty ‘to collect and get in the real and personal estate of the deceased and administer it according to law’. This means that they must collect in all the assets of an estate and distribute them according to the terms of any will or the laws of intestacy. There is grace period of one year from the date of death, which gives PRs time to carry out their duties. During this time beneficiaries have no right to call for the PRs to administer the estate and/or distribute its assets. There may be, and often are, many proper reasons why an estate can take longer than a year to administer, including tax issues, potential claims against the estate and selling illiquid assets such as real property. Nevertheless, beneficiaries would be wise to keep a watchful eye on PRs to ensure that they carry out their duties promptly.

If they do not, beneficiaries can make an application to court for an immediate distribution of any distributable assets or, if the estate has not been administered, for the removal of the PRs. Such applications, especially removal applications, are, however, likely to be expensive and uncertain in outcome. Furthermore, if successful,  as in the Bo Bruce case, removal will almost certainly be followed by the appointment of a professional administrator who will charge additional  not insignificant sums for their time.

Our advice is therefore always to try engaging with PRs if they need reminding of their duties and only to initiate litigation as a last resort.”

Annie Simmons