Second time around

Hughes v Pritchard [2023] EWHC 1382 (Ch)

Elis Gomer

The dispute over the estate of Evan Hughes first went to trial in 2021, was partially reversed on appeal in 2022 and was eventually re-tried - with a diametrically opposed result to the result of the first trial - in 2023. The judgment of HHJ Keyser KC in Hughes v Pritchard [2023] EWHC 1382 (Ch) represents a useful example of the potential pitfalls of proprietary estoppel claims and the uncertainty inherent in this area of litigation, even after the Supreme Court's recent judgment in Guest v Guest [2022] UKSC 27.