Taylor v Savik & Anor [2024]

On 10 September 2024, HHJ Paul Matthews handed down judgment in Taylor v Savik & Anor [2024] EWCC 7. Dale Timson acted for the successful First Respondent in resisting an application by the Second Respondent’s Trustee in Bankruptcy for a declaration that a property legally and beneficially owned by the First Respondent was in fact beneficially owned by the Second Respondent. The First Respondent’s case that she was the sole beneficial owner was alleged to be a sham by the Trustee. Following a one-week trial in May 2024, the court rejected the Trustee’s case. The Trustee had also brought claims pursuant to sections 339 and 423 of the Insolvency Act 1986 which were stayed on the second day of trial. That decision in Taylor v Savik & Anor [2024] EW Misc 18 (CC)) was the first published case concerning the interplay between sections 339 and 423 of the Insolvency Act 1986 and section 419 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Making a trio of judgments in the case, there was previously a published decision on jury trials in civil claims: Taylor v Savik & Anor [2024] EW Misc 15 (CC).