Oral agreement stands as no shareholder agreement in place

The Hight Court has found that an undocumented, oral agreement between a father and son to transfer their shares in a family business to each other on their death overrode the father’s earlier will under which the shares had been left to his wife, the son’s mother in Lane v Lane [2024] EWHC 2616 (Ch).

Facts

In 2001 a father made a will under which his wife was appointed as his sole executor and all his assets would pass to his wife on his death.

Two years later in 2003, the father and son, Alan and Mark Lane, decided to go into business together, setting up a construction company, AGM Brickwork & Stonework Ltd.