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Reposted by Charlotte John

Charlotte John @lottiejohn1.bsky.social · 12d

Happy Friday! Bluesky can't tell from my face that I am over the age of 18 so I cannot access DMs.

New blog post recalling the height of social distancing and back garden will-witnessing, as Covid era wills start to blossom into contentious probate challenges: equitysdarling.co.uk/2025/09/26/n...

No line of sight: due execution and presence In the Estate of Kathleen Coady - Equity's Darling

Coady v Coady: Covid-era “garden signing” fails s.9 Wills Act 1837. The presumption of due execution, and why the Will was invalid.

equitysdarling.co.uk

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Charlotte John @lottiejohn1.bsky.social · 12d

Happy Friday! Bluesky can't tell from my face that I am over the age of 18 so I cannot access DMs.

New blog post recalling the height of social distancing and back garden will-witnessing, as Covid era wills start to blossom into contentious probate challenges: equitysdarling.co.uk/2025/09/26/n...

No line of sight: due execution and presence In the Estate of Kathleen Coady - Equity's Darling

Coady v Coady: Covid-era “garden signing” fails s.9 Wills Act 1837. The presumption of due execution, and why the Will was invalid.

equitysdarling.co.uk

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Reposted by Charlotte John

Charlotte John @lottiejohn1.bsky.social · Jul 2

Hot off the press, Anita Mehta and I take a look at the differing approaches to conduct in financial provision claims under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 on divorce and under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 on death.

financialremediesjournal.com/content/bad-...

Financial Remedies Journal: Bad Behaviour and Broken Bonds: A Comparison of Conduct in 1973 and 1975 Act Claims

financialremediesjournal.com

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Charlotte John @lottiejohn1.bsky.social · Jul 2

Hot off the press, Anita Mehta and I take a look at the differing approaches to conduct in financial provision claims under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 on divorce and under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 on death.

financialremediesjournal.com/content/bad-...

Financial Remedies Journal: Bad Behaviour and Broken Bonds: A Comparison of Conduct in 1973 and 1975 Act Claims

financialremediesjournal.com

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Charlotte John @lottiejohn1.bsky.social · Jun 22

Good to see Lush catering to Chancery lawyers.

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Charlotte John @lottiejohn1.bsky.social · Mar 11

Wishing you blue skies, both metaphorical and literal.

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Reposted by Charlotte John

Legal Style Blog @legalstyle.co.uk · Mar 10

Quite an arresting opening line:
'This is an unusual probate claim in that the deceased says she is very much alive.'
www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...

Ashimola & Anor v Samuel & Anor [2025] EWHC 502 (Ch) (10 March 2025)

www.bailii.org

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Reposted by Charlotte John

Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · Mar 9

“I didn’t want a transgender child. I’m so ashamed of myself now”

Nothing but love for @alicemydaughter.bsky.social for this interview with the Sunday Times magazine for her book, "Her name is Alice"

Double page Sunday Times magazine spread - “I didn’t want a transgender child. I’m so ashamed of myself now”
When Caroline Litman discovered that her 16-year-old wanted to become a girl, she was heartbroken. She explains how she learnt to accept Alice as her daughter — but couldn’t save her life
INTERVIEW BY LAURA PULLMAN, PORTRAIT BY ANNA BATCHELOR

The shock set in the moment they found the GP’s letter, left open in the kitchen beside the kettle. It was an autumn morning in 2018 when Caroline Litman’s husband, Peter, rushed upstairs to confess to his wife that he’d glimpsed the letter to their 16-year-old. It raised the possibility that the anxiety their child had been suffering might stem from “gender dysphoria”. The couple were blindsided.

“It wasn’t a boy child that I longed for. It was a happy child. If transitioning could bring that happy child back out, I was all for it”

Shortly afterwards, there were moments of light. Alice asked if the family could get a new dog — their old dog had recently died — and within a week they had found Pippin, a one-eyed Romanian rescue dog who became a dependable friend. That summer Alice came downstairs from her bedroom wearing a dress for the first time — a floral item that seemed to make her giddy with happiness. “I was trying so hard to be loving and accepting,” Litman says, “but inside I was, like, ‘What’s she doing? She looks ridiculous.’ Oh God, bless her!” she says, laughing fondly. “I felt really uncomfortable.”

In the UK, Litman argues, trans healthcare is not fit for purpose. In March 2020, after Alice had turned 18, she was discharged from CAMHS psychiatric services as she was now a legal adult. Aged 19 she moved out of home to live with a friend in Brighton. The hope was that she would find a job or complete a course that could lead to a university place, but by her mental health was too fragile. In April 2022, using an e-consult form, Alice told a new GP in Brighton of her fears that she wasn’t taking the right medication. “I often feel hopeless, and helpless and that life is not worth living,” she wrote. An appointment was made for July.

She didn’t make it. On May 26, 2022, around 8.30am, a policeman knocked on Litman’s front door. She assumed that something had happened to her 95-year-old mother, who’d spent the night in hospital after a gardening accident. “My brain was protecting me,” she says, quietly remembering that morning.

The offcer suggested that the couple sit down in their living room before breaking the news. A body had been found by a passer-by earlier that morning on the Undercliff Walk between Brighton and Rottingdean. The first devastating task was telling Kate, who was studying for a history master’s at Leeds University, and Harvey, who was travelling with his girlfriend in Guatemala, before they heard the news somehow elsewhere.

Litman doesn’t like gentle euphemisms for death. “I just find it so offensive because Alice’s death wasn’t peaceful and calm and a slipping away,” she says. “It was cruel and brutal, harsh and horrible.”

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Charlotte John @lottiejohn1.bsky.social · Feb 26

This sounds fabulous (I'm in).

Sarah McCartney @sarahmccartney.bsky.social · Feb 26

Fo advance order, Vianne's Confession, the eau de parfum to accompany Vianne, Joanne Harris's new book.
Yes, really!
Savoury unsweetened cacao, rain, hot sun and church incense, with geranium, tomato and rose.
www.4160tuesdays.com/4160tuesdays...

Vianne's Confession - Our Shop

Our fragrances all have a bit of attitude, and capture our impression of times and places. Search our shop to buy our adventurous perfume!

www.4160tuesdays.com

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Reposted by Charlotte John

Simon Little 🍁 @simonplittle.ca · Feb 7

Just absurd levels of cruelty

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · Feb 7

New — The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) was told this week by DOJ that they'd lose their funding if the org didn't remove any mentions of LGBTQIA+ issues from their public materials, I've learned. Staff were told they need to deadname trans kids in their reports to comply.

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Charlotte John @lottiejohn1.bsky.social · Feb 6

Very true, especially the shifting perception of merits as case preparation and trial progress.

Sean Jones KC @seanjones.org · Feb 6

Picking up the discussion of lawyer’s estimates of prospects of success. First, a description of some different approaches, then a howl of pain /1

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Charlotte John @lottiejohn1.bsky.social · Feb 1

Just watched this. Well done, Barbara. You put your points very effectively.

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Charlotte John @lottiejohn1.bsky.social · Jan 28

All of that plus beavers 🦫

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Reposted by Charlotte John

Sophie Carr @sophiecarr.bsky.social · Jan 26

Time for some waves for my daily dose of calm :)

Long exposure (0.3 seconds) waves at sunrise at Fellsfjara beach, Jökulsárlón #Iceland, April 2023.

Two waves breaking, slowed down by a longer shutter speed. The light is at sunrise, with some soft pink on the froth, and a pale grey/blue on the sea behind. The clouds above are a little mauve.

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Charlotte John @lottiejohn1.bsky.social · Jan 25

Terrific news, Adam. Absolutely delighted to read this!

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Charlotte John @lottiejohn1.bsky.social · Jan 25

Stunning picture, Chris.

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Charlotte John @lottiejohn1.bsky.social · Jan 22

I'm grinding my teeth in sympathy. It's maddening!

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Charlotte John @lottiejohn1.bsky.social · Jan 22

This is hugely frustrating Barbara! They would benefit enormously from your wealth of experience and careful thinking on this issue.

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Reposted by Charlotte John

MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · Jan 21

Wow. Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde fearlessly calls out Trump and Vance to their faces. This is heroic.

(posting in 3 parts due to Bluesky's 1 minute limit)

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Reposted by Charlotte John

James Lee @jamessflee.bsky.social · Jan 16

This decision has an interesting point on limitation periods and foreign judgments.

But of wider interest is that the appellants relied in their appeal bundle on a summary of Flynn v. Breitenbach [2020] EWCA Civ 1336.

That case is entirely made up.

caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/kb/2025/42

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Charlotte John @lottiejohn1.bsky.social · Jan 16

HT to @pollyemorgan.bsky.social FI v DO featuring a dispute about the family dog and best use of anonymised initials since Mr Justice Baker's TOM, DCK and HRY.

www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWF...

FI v DO [2024] EWFC 384 (B) (20 December 2024)

www.bailii.org

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Charlotte John @lottiejohn1.bsky.social · Jan 10

There aren't many authors that make me laugh out loud, but Wodehouse's Jeeves books have always had that effect. Marion Keyes also a very funny writer (Rachel's Holiday the best). Over My Dead Body by Maz Evans, is the funniest thing I read last year.

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Charlotte John @lottiejohn1.bsky.social · Jan 8

Confirmed audible addict here but I was amazed at just how much is available via Libby.

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Charlotte John @lottiejohn1.bsky.social · Jan 8

In case you were not aware, or had forgotten, being a member of your local library gives access to all sorts of free digital resources including ebooks, audiobooks, magazines and newspapers via apps including Libby, Borrowbox and PressReader.

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Charlotte John @lottiejohn1.bsky.social · Jan 4

Thanks, Chris. It was my only resolution last year. Keeping it going this year.

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