Home / Sham declarations of trust and the administration of estates – lessons from Teixeira v Moaven
17th June 2026
Jasmine Harland, Solicitor
Most people who make a Will intend for it to be straightforward. The recently decided Teixeira case, decided in the High Court last month, is a stark reminder that by the time an estate comes to be administered, the picture isn’t always as it seems, and that those appointed to administer an estate may have a more active role to play than they anticipated.
Abbas Moaven, a London property investor, died in 2012 leaving his estate to his wife and two children. Weeks before his death, and whilst seriously ill in hospital, he signed declarations of trusts over four London properties which stated that each property had always been held equally between himself, his brother, and their mother. Had those declarations stood, his widow and children would have inherited almost nothing.
After years of litigation, the High Court found that the declarations were ‘shams’. They had not been prepared to record any genuine long-standing arrangement, in fact, no such arrangement had ever actually existed. The declarations of trust had been created deliberately to make Abbas’ estate appear far smaller than it actually was and to limit what his wife could claim.
The court found that Abbas had a history of creating paper declarations of this kind, including one made the night before his wedding. The properties, worth around £5million, were ruled to form part of the estate in full.
Two key principles emerge from this case:
Those in the roles of executors and trustees are often required to be neutral, however, the Teixeira case confirms that the position is more nuanced than this. Where the very value of an estate depends on unpicking an arrangement that appears designed to defeat the rights of beneficiaries, the personal representatives may not only be entitled to take an active stance, but it may also be their duty to do so.
A declaration of trust, however formally drafted, carries no legal or equitable weight if it was never genuinely intended to create or confirm the rights it purports to declare. Where a document is designed purely to give a false impression of ownership, such as to third parties, a spouse, or to the court, it is deemed to be a sham and is therefore treated as having no legal or equitable effect at all.
If you are a beneficiary with concerns that an estate does not reflect what it should, or you are an executor faced with trust arrangements that do not add up, early legal advice is essential. Our contentious probate team advises on disputes such as this and works alongside our private client team where estate planning and inheritance disputes need to be considered together.
Contributors: Sean Sloane, Trainee Solicitor