Emlyn Quashie (Administrator Pendente Lite of the Estate of the Deceased Beresford Solomon) (Appellant) v Ayana Solomon (Respondent) (Trinidad & Tobago)
Case ID: JCPC 2020/0015
Jurisdiction: Court of Appeal of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
Case summary
Issue
Whether the Court of Appeal erred in allowing Ms Solomon to enforce an historic consent order made in settlement of matrimonial proceedings between her deceased parents in order to obtain title to a property.
Facts
Mr Solomon (“BS”) and Ricarda Solomon (“RS”) married in 1978. They had a daughter, Ms Solomon (“AS”), in 1980. BS and RS’s relationship broke down in the early 1980s. On 7 December 1988, BS voluntarily entered into a consent order in settlement of matrimonial proceedings in the Court of Appeal (the “Consent Order”). The Consent Order provided that one half share and interest in a property located in Tobago (the “Property”) be conveyed by BS to RS in trust for their child, AS, then aged 8. BS did not effect the conveyance and RS did not seek to enforce the Consent Order. BS later claimed that RS promised him that she would not enforce the Consent Order. BS remained living at the Property, carrying out significant improvement works and maintenance to it. RS died in 2000 without ever seeking to enforce the Consent Order.
In 2009, AS discovered the Consent Order. She successfully sought to enforce the order and obtained conveyance of the Property directly to her by way of a deed. BS issued a claim in the High Court seeking, inter alia, a declaration that the deed was null and void, that AS’s claim was statute-barred, and that AS was estopped from relying on the deed because of RS’s promise to BS not to enforce the Consent Order. By way of a judgment handed down on 5 November 2013, Rahim J dismissed BS’s claim and found in favour of AS. BS appealed to the Court of Appeal.
The appeal came before Jamadar, Bereaux and Pemberton JJA on 17 March 2017. During the hearing, the Court raised several fresh issues of its own motion, including whether the Consent Order had created a trust over the Property and whether a constructive trust had arisen. The hearing resumed on 13 April 2017 when BS made an application to adduce fresh evidence as to RS’s substantial means and the arrangements RS had made during her lifetime for AS. BS died on 18 December 2017 while awaiting the Court of Appeal’s judgment. On 31 October 2018, the Court of Appeal heard a contested application to appoint Ms Quashie (“EQ”) as Administratrix Pendente Lite over the estate of BS. The application was granted and Court also acceded to BS’s application for fresh evidence. On 31 May 2019, the Court of Appeal handed down judgment dismissing the appeal and affirming the order of the Rahim J. Leave to appeal to the Privy Council was granted by the Court of Appeal (Mendonca CJ, Smith and Rajumar JJA) on 20 December 2019.
Parties
Appellant(s)
Emlyn Quashie (Administrator Pendente Lite of the Estate of the Deceased Beresford Solomon)
Respondent(s)
Ayana Solomon
Appeal
Justices
Lord Hodge, Lord Hamblen, Lord Burrows, Lord Stephens, Lady Rose
Hearing start date
16 June 2022
Hearing finish date
16 June 2022
| Watch hearing | ||
|---|---|---|
| 16 June 2022 | Morning session | Afternoon session |
Judgment details
Judgment date
30 September 2022
Neutral citation
[2022] UKPC 34