“His advice is practical and commercial. He is an excellent tactician.”

Mathew is consistently recommended in the legal directories as a leading junior for trusts, estates and Court of Protection. His recent recommendations are as follows:

Chambers and Partners 2026:

• “Mathew is very good with the client and has a no-nonsense approach that is focused on the legal realities…” “He…is analytical and solution oriented. He can cut through the detail and come up with a strategic plan. He is calm and unflappable.”
• “Mathew is clever and thoughtful in terms of his preparation and advocacy.” “His advice and advocacy is second to none.”

Legal 500 2026:

• “Mathew is excellent at analysing the evidence, relating this to the law and providing clear, practical advice.”

Chambers and Partners 2025:

• “Mathew is technically capable and a safe pair of hands.” “He is extremely skilled, personable, confident, always willing to assist and will regularly go the extra mile for me and my clients.”

Legal 500 2025

• “Mathew is clear in his advice and gets to the heart of the matter. His advice is practical and commercial. He is an excellent tactician.”

Chambers and Partners 2024

• “Mathew provides robust advice and is not afraid to tackle the thorny issues.” “He is extremely knowledgeable, clear and definitive with his advice, tells it as it is and has very strong advocacy skills.”
• “Mathew is incisive and gives clear advice. He considers issues beyond his immediate instructions in order to give the fullest advice possible.”

Legal 500 2024:

• “Mathew can produce high-quality work under considerable time pressure and has good client care skills. He prepares well and presents the client’s case calmly and effectively in court.”
• “Mathew can grapple with complex legal issues and his ability to present arguments clearly and attractively to the court.”

Mathew has extensive experience in trust and estate matters, ranging from removal and breach of trust/duty claims to applications for directions. He is particularly experienced in trust/administration applications for the construction of instruments/wills, related directions, “blessings” and applications to vary trusts.

Reported cases include:

• Adler v Cripps Trust Corporation Ltd [2024] EWHC 1711 (Ch) – Mathew (led by Penelope Reed KC) represented the claimant in an application to strike out and/or for summary judgment on her claim for a declaration that she is the beneficial owner of the shares in seventeen property holding companies.
• Almond v Goff [2021] EWHC 1703 (Ch) – Mathew (led by Tracey Angus KC) acted for the adult children of a testator in a claim for construction of a home-made will. The issues concerned, amongst other things, issues of abatement, the effect of revocation clauses in foreign wills, conditional gifts, the rule against inalienability, the beneficiary principle and certainty of objects.
• Brown v New Quadrant Trust Corporation Ltd [2021] EWHC 1731 (Ch) – Mathew acted for the main beneficiary of two settlements in his claim to restrain a sale of the shares in an equity release company (to which there was a counter claim for a blessing) and to remove the professional trust corporation.
• Bullard v Bullard [2017] EWHC 3 (Ch) – Mathew represented the settlor in her application to rectify a trust established as part of a double trust scheme.
• RNLI v Headley [2016] EWHC 1948 (Ch) – Mathew acted for the remaindermen in its claim for disclosure and an account of the trustees’ dealings with the fund.

Recent experience includes:

• Advising trustees on the application of the rules against unauthorised profits and conflicts of interest
• Acting in a claim for the appointment of an independent administrator or receiver of an estate.
• Advising a trust company on its duties when disclaiming an appointment as trustee.
• Acting for an executor in a committal application following a failure to comply with an order to account.
• Acting for a professional administrator in a claim to pay a trust fund into court.
• Acting in a claim for Re Beddoe orders and directions and in respect of claims against beneficiaries and third parties.
• Advising on the need for declaratory relief as a consequence of the trust instruments being lost in the course of historic corporate mergers and acquisitions.
• Acting in a claim for the appointment of an independent professional administrator.
• Defending an application for an injunction to restrain an administrator’s proposed sale of estate assets.
• Advising trustees on the validity of historic appointments and retirements and the possibility of ratifying acts inadvertently taken without authority.
• Acting for a defendant in an application to strike out a claim purportedly made on behalf of an estate without a grant.
• Advising trustees on the scope of their powers to resettle a substantial trust fund or otherwise or make a sub-fund election to crystalise capital gains before an anticipated increase in the applicable tax rate.
• Acting in a claim to remove a trustee for his alleged partisan approach to a dissolution of a valuable partnership in which the trust was interested.
• Advising on claims to an alleged nuptial trust in divorce proceedings.
• Amending commercial vehicle trusts to comply with new Financial Conduct Authority regulations.
• Advising trustees on the application of the self-dealing rule in the context of their role as deputies for the main beneficiary.
• Advising on the compromise of a claim to recover certain insurance benefits erroneously, and negligently, settled on trust.
• Advising on the barring of an entail where the prior life interest had been assigned and resettled on discretionary trusts.
• Acting in a claim to rescind trusts mis-sold as care fee planning vehicles.
• Acting in a claim to vary the perpetuity period applicable to a dynastic trust.

Mathew has a busy Court of Protection practice. He boasts experience in virtually every type of property and affairs application, including applications for statutory wills, contentious deputyship applications, and applications concerning the validity, registration and revocation of enduring and lasting powers of attorney. He also regularly advises deputies and attorneys on third-party claims and other issues arising in the management of the property and affairs of individuals lacking mental capacity.

Reported cases include:

• Re KP [2019] EWCOP – Mathew acted in an application concerning the extent of a professional deputy’s entitlement to historic remuneration and litigation costs for which specific authority was not prospectively granted.
• Re AR [2018] EWCOP 8 – Mathew acted in an application concerning various bulk orders made for the remuneration of a professional deputy for individuals lacking capacity with small estates.
• A v D [2017] EWCOP 8 – Mathew acted in a contested statutory will application concerning, amongst other things, the effect of a compromise in undue influence proceedings brought by the person lacking capacity against one of her sons.

Recent experience includes:

• Advising professional deputies on a proposed transfer of funds to agents in Switzerland where the Swiss Court had yet to appoint a curator of the person lacking capacity’s affairs.
• Acting in a claim for the appointment of a professional deputy in the context of a family dispute.
• Representing a solicitor-owned company which had erroneously been appointed as a deputy for numerous individuals despite having not been correctly constituted as a trust corporation as required by the Public Trustee Rules 1912.
• Acting in an application to set aside the registration of a lasting power of attorney.
• Acting in claims to remove professional deputies in the context of alleged breaches of duty and breakdown of relations with the person lacking capacity and/or their family.

Mathew has acted in all manner of professional negligence cases, from cases concerning a failure to take necessary steps to secure property in divorce proceedings to negligent conveyancing. However, Mathew’s particular strength lies in cases arising out of his core practice areas, i.e. negligence in the drafting of trusts/wills, the administration of trusts/estates and the management of a person lacking capacity’s property and affairs.

Recent experience includes:

• Advising on a claim against solicitors and counsel for their negligent conduct of a claim for pre-action disclosure of a will file.
• Advising on a claim against solicitors for failing to give effect to a testator’s wish to specifically devise the land which he farmed in partnership with his sons.
• Advising on a claim against a solicitor for failing to draft a will before an elderly testator died.
• Advising professional executors and their insurers on unjust enrichment claims arising out of their erroneous distribution of the estate.
• Acting for a claimant in a claim against a solicitor for failing to advise her on the fiscal consequences of settling funds on trust.

Recent experience includes:

• Advising the continuing partners of a firm of solicitors on a dispute with their former partners.
• Advising a firm of solicitors on the transfer to a limited liability partnership.
• Advising on the effect of an ancillary relief order which gave a former spouse an interest on the sale of a dentists practice.
• Acting for an executor in a dispute about the validity of a deed of retirement and arrangement executed by a deceased partner of a farming business.

Mathew read Ancient and Medieval History at the University of Birmingham, graduating with First Class Honours. After completing the Graduate Diploma in Law at Nottingham Law School, Mathew was graded “outstanding” on the Bar Professional Training Course at City Law School. Mathew received the Terence Fitzgerald Scholarship and an accommodation award from Middle Temple and was called to the Bar in July 2011 with the Certificate of Honour.

Mathew is a member of the Chancery Bar Association and the Contentious Trusts Association.

Mathew is a co-author of Partnership Law (7^th Edition) and writes the chapter on personal representatives in Inheritance Act Claims: Practice and Procedure (looseleaf). He is presently writing Trusts and Estates Law Handbook (4^th Edition).

Mathew writes articles and lectures widely in his areas of expertise. Recent titles include:

• “Civil Contempt in Trusts and Estates”
• “Cator v Thynn: Axing Denaxe and Outdated Trust Provisions”
• “Promises and Contracts: Proprietary Estoppel and Partnership Agreements”
• “Arbitration and Trust Disputes: Grosskopf v Grosskopf”
• “Lesser-known Statutory Provisions for Trust and Estate Practitioners”
• “Interim Provision in 1975 Act Claims”
• “Minors and Foreign Property”
• “Applications to Vary Trusts in England, Jersey and Guernsey”
• “Subjective and Objective Benefit: Powers of Advancement in England and Elsewhere”

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