Ollie Murrell

Ollie is recognised as a Rising Star by the Legal 500 in Private Wealth, Probate and Tax. Most of Ollie’s work is in the High Court and involves HNW individuals.

He is the co-author ‘A Practical Guide to Missing People and the Administration of Estates’ and sits on the committee of the Contentious Trusts Association.

Ollie’s work includes:

• Administration of trusts and estates (contentious and non-contentious) and related applications.
• Inheritance tax and associated taxation of trusts and estates. · Claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.
• Claims concerning the substantive and formal validity of wills.
• Charities (contentious and non-contentious), including charity legacy disputes, regulatory and governance advice, finance and trust matters, and reputational management advice.
• Challenges to lifetime gifts and creation of trusts.
• Duties and powers of trustees/personal representatives, including breach of trust and fiduciary duties, tracing and asset recovery.
• Trusts of land and proprietary estoppel in domestic, agricultural, commercial and mixed contexts. 
• Cross-border and multi-jurisdictional trusts and estate disputes, particularly involving Islamic Law and Sharia.

Examples of Ollie’s recent cases:

• Probate claim by a partner/cohabitee seeking to propound two wills in her favour, partly to the exclusion of the deceased’s children, challenged on grounds of undue influence, capacity, knowledge and approval, and due execution. The estate is believed to be valued at c.£4m.
• Inheritance Act 1975 claim by a minor for provision from a £3m estate, complicated by multiple Islamic Law families, foreign real estate, and the succession law of several Islamic countries.
• Proprietary estoppel claim to a caravan park (business and land) valued at £1.4m following an invalid will in the deceased’s step-son’s favour.
• Claim to set-aside five wills and the trust settlement for lack of capacity and want of knowledge and approval relating to a £1.2m estate and c.£1m trust. Involved complex capacity issues arising from the testator/donor’s head injury before making the wills/trusts.
• 3-day trial of a cohabitee claim under the Inheritance Act 1975, opposed by the deceased’s children. Ollie acted for the successful cohabitee.
• Ollie regularly acts for some of the largest and well-known charities, particularly in relation to legacy disputes and governance, property/finance and trust matters
• Ollie has advised on and acted in a number of matters concerning missing/untraceable persons and the consequent implications for trusts and estates.

Featured Trusts, Wills, Probate and Inheritance cases

Debra Packer v Lynn Packer [2025] EWHC 461 (Ch)

Probate/fraud claim in which Ollie successfully acted for Debra who was granted letters of administration. Lynn sought to propound two draft wills; the executed versions not being located on death. The High Court pronounced against the wills as they were not validly executed, the presumption of revocation was not rebutted, and the deceased likely destroyed the draft wills. Lynn abandoned allegations of fraud and will destruction by Debra in closing submissions.

Bedford v Grieg [2025] UKFTT 1302 (PC)

Acted for a cohabitee in an application for Form A and Form II restrictions against the title of his deceased partner’s property on the basis he had a beneficial interest under a constructive/resulting trust or proprietary estoppel.

Lamb v (1) Jackson, (2) Lamb (2025, CLCC)

Ollie acted for the successful Second Defendant in a 4-day trial concerning the validity of a will (challenged on forgery/capacity grounds), abuse of an LPA, and a bare/resulting trust claim to the deceased’s home.