Overview
- Master Iain Pester ruled that Hughes’s Crouch End home and his shares in the company holding two additional properties pass to Shelter.
- The decision resolves nearly a decade of uncertainty created by the phrase “my three houses” in Hughes’s handwritten will.
- The estate comprises three north London properties valued at about £4 million, including a £1.8m Crouch End house and two nearby flats worth roughly £1.5m and £650,000.
- Hughes drafted the will using an online platform without legal advice, which left unclear how assets held through a company should be transferred.
- Shelter and Hughes’s family supported the outcome, with the charity saying the gift will bolster its work on homelessness.