Summative Assessment

4. Jeb, a farmer, owned a farm in the Tineswell valley. In 2000, he wrote a will containing the following clauses:

a) The field I used as a paddock is to be sold and the proceeds given to my family for the purpose of continuing the re-wilding project started on our farm in 2019.

b) I leave £50,000 to be held on trust, the income for my loyal sheepdog, Bess, so that she can live out her days in comfort. The capital is to be used to build and maintain a bird hide by the river to be used by the children of Tineswell primary school but available for all the inhabitants of Tineswell village for as long as the law allows.

c) I leave £10,000 for a bench to be erected in my memory overlooking my favourite view of Tineswell valley.

d) I leave £10,000 to promote our local custom of decorating the village with knitted garlands.

e) My remaining estate is to go to my children.

Unfortunately Jeb died earlier this year. Advise his executors on the validity of these clauses.

5. On Monday Captain Mark wrote a will including the following clauses:

a) My flat in Plymouth and my sailing boat, Destiny, to my sister, Agatha.

b) £500,000 to Brenda.

c) My 500 shares in BlueMarine to Charles on trust for the purpose that I will communicate to him.

He then called Agatha and left a message on her voicemail instructing her to give the sailing boat she would receive under his will to her daughter when she turned 14.

On Tuesday, Captain Mark met with Brenda and asked her whether she would be willing to act as his trustee after his death. She agreed and he passed her an envelope telling her that all the information about the trust was inside but that he would rather she didn’t open it now.

On Wednesday, Captain Mark met with Charles and asked him whether he would be willing to hold the 500 shares that he would receive on Captain Mark’s death on trust for Greta. Charles agreed.

On Thursday, Captain Mark changed his mind and decided to transfer the BlueMarine shares directly to Greta that day. He signed the share transfer form to transfer 500 BlueMarine shares to Greta and put it in the post to the company with the share certificate. He did not mention anything about this to Charles or Greta.

On Friday, Captain Mark died.

On Sunday Captain Mark’s will was found by his family. Brenda then opened the envelope she had been given on Tuesday and discovered that she was to give

£500,000 to Captain Mark’s son whom he had never acknowledged during his lifetime. Brenda is dismayed by this and does not want Captain Mark’s son to benefit from his will.

Advise Agatha, Brenda and Charles on their entitlement to the property in Captain Mark’s will.

6. Anja and Baz, an unmarried couple, purchased a house together in 2001. The property was registered in their joint names. Anja is a wealthy lecturer and paid the deposit on the house from her savings. The balance was paid from a mortgage taken in their joint names although the mortgage repayments came directly from Anja’s bank account, as did all of the household bills and expenses. The couple did not hold a joint bank account. Baz earned relatively little as a circus performer and kept his earnings in his own separate bank account.

Baz used his spare time to make changes to the house. These included the construction of a circus ring in the garden for him to practice in and the modification of the garage to allow him to practise his trapeze act. In 2008, they had a child, Cam.

Anja managed the childcare and continued to work and pay the mortgage. Baz occasionally helped with the childcare but spent most of his time practising his circus act. In 2012, the couple separated, and Baz moved out.

Baz then decided to purchase a flat with Dom, an old school friend. They purchased a small flat in 2013 and moved in together. Dom paid almost the entire purchase price from his savings and the property was registered in Dom’s name only. Baz made a very small contribution to the purchase price. When Baz asked why the property was not registered in their joint names, Dom told him that it was cheaper that way, but that he should treat the flat as his own. Baz made a small contribution to the household expenses each month, but Dom paid most of them. Baz decorated the whole flat to make it resemble the inside of a circus tent. In 2020, Dom and Baz decided to sell the property.

Advise Baz whether he has any claim to an interest in the house or flat.

All questions carry equal weighting. All questions have a maximum word count of 1500 words. Students must show the word-count of each individual answer alongside that answer.

The recommended time for this assessment is no more than 6 hours.

Instructions

Font Size: 12 Point

Font Type: Arial or equivalent

Line Spacing: 1.5 

Left and right hand margins: 2.5 cm/ 1” Top and bottom margins: 2.5 cm/ 1”

Note that these margins are generally the default in word-processing programs, so you probably will not have to alter them.

Students must submit their completed examinations through TurnItIn. Work submitted by students for assessment will be subjected to electronic systems for detecting plagiarism or other forms of academic malpractice such as collusion.

Your name must not appear on the work, and you must use your student number in the submission process.

Questions

Questions that might be directed at an invigilator in a regular exam may be addressed to the TLSEO via email, and will then be passed to an appropriate member of staff. Answers will be provided only to those questions that could be answered in an exam setting. Please note, too, that while questions will be answered as quickly as possible, responses will not be immediate.

Please do NOT send questions to teaching staff.

Timing

We suggest that you spend no more than 6 hours on this assignment. This is three times the duration of the planned examination. Please note that you will NOT be timed.

Referencing

Direct and indirect quotations must be acknowledged by means of a simple in-text reference, in line with what we would expect in a conventional open-book exam. At the minimum, this will name the author of books or articles being quoted (for example “As Smith argues…”); the short title of the case or statute in question should be used when providing support for a point of law (for example, Jones v Brown, or Law of Property Act 1925). Precise references to statutory provisions (for example, “Law of Property Act 1925, s 53(1)(b)” rather than simply “Law of Property Act”) should be given. Full case citations and full bibliographies are NOT required.

Any direct quotations must be clearly shown as such through the proper use of quotation marks.

Failure to acknowledge sources may be treated as poor practice or as malpractice. If in doubt, students should include a reference.

University Policy on Plagiarism and Collusion

All work submitted by you must be your own work. Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s work without proper acknowledgment, presenting the material as if it were your own. The University regards plagiarism as a form of cheating, and therefore as a serious academic offence; the consequences are severe.

The University of Manchester’s policies on plagiarism, collusion, and other academic malpractice can be found at http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=639

Information on how to avoid plagiarism can be found here: https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/learning-objects/mle/avoiding- plagiarism/story_html5.html

All instances of suspected plagiarism will be investigated. Students who are found to have plagiarised will be penalised; the penalty may extend to degree failure, temporary suspension or expulsion from further study.

The word-limit for each component question of the examination is shown alongside that question. Note that word counts cannot be shared between questions. For example, if the requirement is that students should write two 1500-word essays, this does not mean that one can be 2000 words if the other is only 1000.

Students should declare the word-count for each question attempted. Markers may check the accuracy of your stated word-count.

The word-count includes body text and any subheadings that the student chooses to use.

Rather than applying a penalty to work that exceeds the word-limit, markers will use a “guillotine” system. Under this system, markers will impose a cut-off, and not take into account anything you write after the word-limit has been passed. For example, if the question requires a 1500-word answer, anything you write after the 1500-word mark has been passed may be ignored. It is therefore advisable that you aim for concision.

You will not be penalised for answers that are shorter than the limit: answers will be given credit for being comprehensive, rather than for being a certain length.

Submission Deadlines

 Assessed work must be submitted no more than 7 calendar days from the time that the assignment is released. For example, an assignment released at 10:00 BST on a Tuesday will be due no later than 10:00 BST the following Tuesday.

Failure to submit by this date and time will be treated as absence from the examination, and work will be given a zero mark. 

Note that the deadline represents the latest time that a piece of work can be submitted, and not a target. You are advised to plan ahead and submit work well in advance of the deadline to ensure that any last-minute delays do not result in late