Where a tenant for life purchased the reversion of his nephew in the family estate : Held, that the transaction fell within the ordinary rule as to reversionary interests, and was not to be regarded as a family arrangement.
The fact that a reversion is dependent on contingencies, which do not admit of estimation by actuaries, does not relieve the purchaser from the onus of shewing that fair value was given.
A family estate stood settled on A. (a bachelor) for life, with remainder to his issue in tail male, with remainder to his nephew B. in tail male, with remainder to the brothers of B. successively in tail male. A. purchased B.’s interest, and required B. to concur in disentailing the estate and conveying the fee. The sale was bona fide intended to be for a fair price ; and the object of the purchaser appeared to be to prevent the estate being sold by B. out of the family. The devisees of A. having failed to prove that fair value was given, the sale was set aside, without costs on either side.
Semble, that the estate to be valued was the reversion in fee which the purchaser acquired, and not merely the base fee which the vendor alone could have sold to a stranger.
Citations:
[1861] EngR 625, (1861) 1 J and H 484, (1861) 70 ER 837
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Land, Trusts
Updated: 15 August 2022; Ref: scu.284386
