Toby Bishop

Succession and trusts litigation; TOLATA and proprietary estoppel; Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 claims; removal of personal representatives and trustees; trustees’ powers and administration disputes; domicile and forum; the forfeiture rule; and insolvent estates and trusts.

Called to the Bar, 2008. Bar Vocational Course: Outstanding, 3rd in order of merit. Advanced International Advocacy Course, Keble College, Oxford.

Chancery Bar Association; ACTAPS (the Association of Contentious Trusts and Probate Specialists); ConTrA (the Contentious Trusts Association).

• Teixeira v Moaven [2026] EWHC 1215 (Ch) and [2026] EWHC 1542 (Ch) (Costs) — acted for the court-appointed Independent Administrators in a trial concerning sham declarations of trust and section 423 Insolvency Act anti-avoidance claims; the judgment confirms no limitation period applies to section 423 claims and gives guidance on the neutrality of administrators.

• Dorothy House v Helme [2026] EWHC 75 (Ch) — acted for charity residuary beneficiaries in an urgent injunction restraining executors from disposing of the estate’s farm and in their subsequent removal.

• Fernandez v Fernandez [2025] EWHC 2373 (Ch) and [2025] EWHC 2530 (Ch) (Costs)—resisted an appeal against the removal of an executor and trustee of a family trust, HHJ Paul Matthews dismissing all grounds and ordering indemnity costs.

• Hanson v Coleman [2024] EWHC 3589 (Ch) — the removal of executors with consideration of an incumbent’s indemnity for adverse costs orders and whether the indemnity was expanded by provisions in the will.

• Morris v Morris [2024] EWHC 2554 (Ch); [2024] 4 WLR 84 —relief against the effects of the forfeiture rule following an assisted death at a Swiss clinic, clarifying that merely travelling with the deceased does not engage the rule.