The testator, William Allan, had been Lord Provost of Edinburgh and unmarried. When 40 he moved to England ‘for a wife’ and ‘had the good fortune to win the hand of a widow . . of considerable wealth and expectations’. They lived for a while in Scotland but Mr Allan suffered from gout and moved to Wyebridge near Buxton for the waters and thereafter to Brighton where he lived with his wife for a further 10 years, having been married for nearly 40 years. It was submitted that Allan had not abandoned his Scottish domicile because the choice of residence was really that of his wife who was the carer and provider of the money for their homes.
Held: Sir William James VC said: ‘The comparative opulence of the wife can make no difference. The residence and home at Brighton were not the less his because he may have deferred, however implicitly, to her wishes. It indeed makes the conclusion in favour of a Brighton domicile irresistible when we find that it was in the highest degree improbable that the wife should ever have voluntarily returned to a Scotch home; that the husband had every motive of interest, of gratitude, and of affection to say to his partner, ‘Your country shall be our country, the home of your selection shall be our home.”
Judges:
Sir William James VC
Citations:
(1870) LR 10 Eq Cas 589
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Agulian and Another v Cyganik CA 24-Feb-2006
The question was whether the deceased had lost his domicile of birth and acquired one of choice when living and working in the UK for 43 years. He had retained land in Cyprus, but lived here.
Held: He had retained his domicile of birth: . .
Cited – Holliday and Another v Musa and Others CA 30-Mar-2010
The adult children of the deceased appealed against a finding that their father had died domiciled in the UK, and allowing an application under the 1975 Act. He had a domicile of origin in Cyprus but had lived in England since 1958. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Family
Updated: 10 May 2022; Ref: scu.238724