Payne Hicks Beach LLP

Dispute Resolution

Richard has a Chancery practice encompassing trusts, property and civil disputes before all levels of the judiciary including the Supreme Court.

Richard focusses on contentious trusts and estates work, and has received the STEP Global Excellence Award. He is co-chair of the annual Trusts in Litigation Conference. He advises on all aspects of international and domestic trust and probate disputes and presently is busy removing trustees and protectors, seeking and resisting trust disclosure, blessing and voiding trustee decisions and challenging the validity of wills amongst other matters. He has a substantial international caseload presently involving Jersey, Guernsey, Bermuda, Kenya, the US and Cayman amongst others.

Recently he has been engaged in:

• Acting in applications for the removal of trustees, protectors and executors;
• Cross-border litigation concerning allegations of breach of trust or fiduciary duty by trustees or protectors;
• Representing high net worth beneficiaries in high value estate litigation concerning challenges to the validity of wills, mental capacity, lifetime gifts and claims under the Inheritance Act;
• Acting for some of the UK’s oldest and largest estates and handling applications concerning long standing family trusts.

Qualified 2006; Payne Hicks Beach 2004 (promoted to senior associate 2013 and partner 2015).

Richard studied Modern History at Oxford University.