Norman Lamb

Private Client Trust, Wills, Probate & Administration of Estates

Norman’s practice covers:

• Claims for and against executors, administrators and beneficiaries.
• Applications to administer and distribute estates.
• Applications for an inventory and account of estates.
• Drafting and attending s.50 Administration of Justice Act applications to remove or replace executors of an estate.
• Drafting and attending s.116 Senior Courts Act applications to ‘pass over’ those ordinarily entitled to a grant of representation for an estate.
• Dealing with rights relating to the deceased post-death, burial and funeral arrangements, exhumations.
• Testamentary challenges – Lack of capacity, undue influence, want of knowledge and approval, fraudulent calumny, donatio mortis causa/deathbed gifts.
• Cases arising from breach of trust or fiduciary duty.
• Validity of wills.
• The effect and consequences of wills upon death.
• Cases involving double portions and advancement.
• Constructive trusts, resulting trusts and estoppel.
• Caveats against probate applications.
• Advising trustees and beneficiaries in relation to wills and trust documents, including in relation to construction and distribution.
• Injunctive relief.
• Providing legal opinions regarding settlement for protected parties.

Notable Cases

• Addison & Anor -v- Niaz [2024] EWHC 3124 (Fam) (Principal Registry, London) – Successfully acted in an unusual s.122 Senior Courts Act application before the Chief Chancery Master in the High Court. The wider probate claim concerned the testator’s capacity. The client’s standalone application compelled the draftsperson of the deceased’s will to attend the High Court under a penal notice for cross-examination in relation to a Larke v Nugus request. Costs were successfully obtained against the draftsperson.
• F -v- A (High Court, Manchester, ChD) – Successful in a sombre and emotional matter concerning an urgent without notice interim injunction, s.116 Senior Courts Act 1981 and the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987. Norman secured an urgent injunction, on both prohibitory and mandatory grounds, to immediately halt the imminent cremation of a client’s father, scheduled at an undisclosed time and location. Before an expeditated trial, two weeks thereafter, Norman secured a s.116 Order to ‘pass over’ the presumed administrator to appoint his client with entitlement to the body and funeral arrangements.

Property

Norman accepts instructions in cases concerning:

• Real and personal property.
• TOLATA disputes – Constructive trusts, resulting trusts, proprietary estoppel, equitable accounting and occupational rent.
• Enforcement action.
  – Norman has recent experience acting for school/insurer clients in relation to the enforcement of monies against the properties of former teachers convicted of historic offences.
• Mortgages, charges and other securities against property.
  – Norman will be editing a prominent practitioner text on Mortgage Law, focusing on the enforcement of securities against property.
• Claims to compel trustees to transfer property to absolute beneficiaries.
• Vesting Orders.
• Escheat and bona vacantia.
• Applications to vary or remove restrictions/charges at H.M. Land Registry.
• Tribunal matters, in both the Residential Property and Land Registration divisions.
• Landlord and tenant matters.
  – In particular, Norman successfully resisted an appeal in relation to an application for relief from forfeiture of a commercial unit situated below a large student residential high-rise.
  – Acting for both landlords/commercial clients and tenants.
• Boundary disputes.
• Rights of way over land and injunctive relief.
• Adverse possession.
• Torts (Interference with Goods) Act, bailment and conversion.

Company & Insolvency

Norman accepts instructions in:

• Partnership disputes.
  Corporate and personal insolvency applications.
• Winding up petitions, restoration of companies to the Register.
• Applications to execute documents on behalf of another.

Notable Cases

• Norman recently acted for a client based overseas in a large partnership dispute involving numerous high end cars.

Publications

• Video Q&A: Funeral Disputes
• Article: Injunctions & Funeral Disputes
• Presentation: Manchester Law Society, Property Law Conference

Associations

Chancery Bar Association

Contentious Trusts Association

Northern Business and Property Bar Association.

Education

Master in Law Exempting (Bar Professional Training Course), University of Northumbria

Awards

Queen Elizabeth Foundation (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)

Prescribed Information

Norman Lamb is a practising barrister, regulated by the Bar Standards Board (BSB). The information held by the BSB about him can be found here.

Norman’s clerks will provide no obligation quotations for all legal services that he provides. It is most common for Norman to undertake Court and Tribunal work for a brief fee plus refresher days, although fixed fees are available. Norman also accepts instructions on legal aid rates where those are available, details of which can be found here. For paperwork, Norman most commonly charges at an hourly rate, although fixed fees are available. Norman will typically return paperwork within 10-14 days, however professional commitments, complexity and volume of documentation can affect these approximate timescales.