When a woman updated her will in 2003, she had no way of knowing that a simple change to a precedent document could cause problems for her executors several years later. There was no intention to change one of the main provisions of the will, which was that...
When a Jersey multi-millionaire gave most of his assets away to one of his daughters in the months prior to his death, leaving an estate of less than £100,000 to be shared by all three of his children, it was perhaps inevitable that a legal challenge...
A recent case illustrates how strong the evidence must be before the presumption that a person making a will has the mental capacity to do so will be overturned. It involved an elderly woman who died leaving an estate of a little under £150,000. Her...
One of the rules that applies to the administration of estates is that whilst a person appointed as executor under a will can refuse to accept the appointment, once an executor ‘intermeddles’ in the estate, in principle he or she cannot then...
When a millionaire estate agent died intestate, the two women he had been involved with both tried to have his estate distributed according to their wishes. Chris John died leaving an estate worth £5 million. At the time of his death, he had been...
A widow who was excluded from inheriting her husband’s £500,000 estate, under the terms of a will he made four years before he died in 2009, has contested the will, alleging that the brain tumour from which her husband was suffering meant that he...
Years ago, it was common for a deed creating a trust for children to specify the beneficiaries as being ‘the legitimate children’ of the person setting up the trust. Recently, the children of the 13th Duke of Manchester, by his bigamous marriage...
The combination of a deathbed marriage, a millionaire and a new will was always likely to end in a court battle, and so it proved recently when a family challenged their late father’s will, which left everything to his new wife, who had been his...
The Law Society is urging the nearly 70 per cent of the adult population who have not yet made a will to do so. There are many reasons why you should make a will. It is a mistake to think that it is only necessary if you have a substantial estate. Estate...
Among the requirements for a will to be valid are that it must not be witnessed by a beneficiary and it must be signed at the bottom by the testator (the person making it) or, if they are unable to sign it, under their direction. You would therefore be...
According to a recent poll, more than one in eight wills is ‘self-written’ and one in 10 of those people who have made a will fails to tell anyone where it is. Since nearly 4 out of every 10 adults have not made a will in the first place, the...
A recent case illustrates the importance for cohabiting couples of giving careful consideration to property ownership and inheritance issues. Ms Cattle had a relationship with her partner, Mr Evans, for many years and when he died she made a claim against...
It may be tempting (but is probably just tempting fate) to put a ‘qualification’ clause in a will whereby a person inherits only if they do something or refrain from doing something. Where it is something definite which can be unequivocally...
When a beneficiary loses out because the terms of the will of a wealthy person are changed shortly before that person’s death, a dispute is always likely. When a Scottish woman with an estate valued at £4 million died shortly after changing her...
A recent case will cause concern to anyone who has a specific wish that their estate should not pass to certain people. It involved a woman who left an estate of more than £400,000, which she had bequeathed to various animal charities. The woman had a...
A very unusual case illustrates the lengths to which the courts may go in order to sort out disputes involving lost wills. It involved a couple who had both been married before and who, it was claimed, had made mutual wills. On the husband’s death,...
An unusual instance of the creation of a statutory will was reported recently, when an application for a statutory will was granted to the daughter of a woman who had suffered a stroke. The applicant’s two half-siblings were found to have forged an...
A woman whose mother left an entire estate to charity has won her appeal for a substantial payment from the estate, sufficient to meet her need for reasonable maintenance. Melita Jackson died in July 2004 at the age of 70, leaving a net estate of some...
A man who was appointed under a power of attorney to look after a woman’s affairs, when she could no longer manage to do so herself, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison after he abused his position of trust to steal more than £100,000 from...
When an obvious error is made, the courts will sometimes be willing to correct the mistake – but not always. In a recent case , the court was asked to consider wills executed by an elderly couple. Each will was a simple ‘mirror will’, in...
A recent case shows that the creation of a valid will in English does not depend on the person creating it being able to speak the language. The situation arose when a woman’s daughters contested her will, which left everything to her four sons,...
The Law Society is campaigning to persuade the Government that a change to the law is necessary to protect members of the public from problems caused by using unqualified will writers. The Law Society wants will writers to have to gain formal qualifications...
An argument over an estate worth more than £4 million has caused a family rift which looks set to run and run. The case concerned the assets of a Greek Cypriot woman, who died leaving her and her late husband’s estate largely to their daughter....
A case which recently came before the High Court illustrates how complicated probate issues can be, especially where the will was written in another country or involves assets abroad. The case involved an Indian man, who lived in the UK and owned several...
It is a source of concern to lawyers and families alike that the majority of people never make a will. Often, the intention to do so is there, but somehow the person never seems to ‘get around to it’ and dies or becomes incapable before a will...
The newspapers have recently reported several incidences of the exploitation of vulnerable elderly people. In one such case, Stevenage care worker Jo-ann Tharle has been jailed for the theft of savings of more than £10,000 from an elderly man in her...
When appointing an executor, it is vital that you make sure you choose someone who is trustworthy. Where co-executors are appointed, it is important that they will all oversee the estate administration. The wisdom of an assiduous approach when deciding who...
The Court of Appeal has overturned a controversial High Court decision regarding a will which was unclearly worded. The deceased had left his property, valued at £169,000, to his lifelong friends. He also left a pecuniary legacy to his brother and his...
The Court Service has revised its guidance on making an application for probate, in order to take into account the most common errors made. The guidance has been published by HM Revenue and Customs on page 6 of the June 2010 Inheritance Tax and Trusts...
In a long-running case , a beneficiary under an estate administrated by his brother failed in his attempt to bring an action against two firms of solicitors which had acted for his brother in his capacity as administrator. Mark Roberts and his brother John...
Earlier this year, YouGov carried out a poll on behalf of children’s charity Barnardo’s . The results indicate that 58 per cent of adults in the UK, and 74 per cent of those who are cohabiting, do not currently have a will in place. According...
Sometimes, after a person's death, it turns out that their will does not have the effect that was originally anticipated. This can happen if, for example, the family circumstances have changed since the will was made. In such situations, there are a number...
Mental capacity has always been something of a problematic area of the law. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 was enacted to put mental capacity law on a firmer footing and is based on the concepts of ‘best interests’ and ‘capacity’....
When estate assets are not divided as potential beneficiaries think they should be, disagreements often result. When there is a second family involved, legal challenges are relatively common. In a recent case, Jean Gorjat, a multi-millionaire electronics...
The Court of Appeal has now handed down its judgment in a recent case in which the lower court held that a man’s will was valid because he had testamentary capacity (‘was of sound mind’) when he gave instructions for it to be drawn up,...
The directors of the Midlands will-writing firm Willmakers of Distinction have been jailed for the theft of more than £400,000 from the estates of clients. Nicholas Butcher was jailed for three and a half years and banned from acting as a director for...
Yet another recent case illustrates that the elderly and the bereaved are a target for those who seek to manipulate others for their own benefit. An NHS bereavement services adviser from Leicestershire was jailed after being found guilty of stealing...
A recent case illustrates the dangers of making even small changes to your will without taking professional advice. A woman and her second husband had made mirror wills leaving their house to their own children and dividing the rest of their estate...
It is often said that an oral contract is as good as the paper it's written on. Many family disputes have arisen because an agreement was made without appropriate documentation being created, and the courts are rarely willing to enforce such agreements. A ...
The problems which can arise when there is an intestate estate that involves business assets were made clear recently when the High Court had to rule on a complex claim relating back to a death that occurred many years ago. At stake was a share in a farm,...
An executor who stole more than £80,000 from the estate of a client faces a jail sentence for his crime. The man, who operated as a ‘will writer’, also faces a confiscation order against his assets. Much of the money was used to finance a...
Following a series of cases involving unqualified will writers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has announced that it has approved a Code of Practice which will apply to members of the Institute of Professional Will Writers (IPW). The code of practice will...
When an estate containing assets such as property or unquoted shares is to be distributed amongst several beneficiaries, there is potential for dispute over the valuations of assets. A case which is now starting to occupy court time illustrates this point....
One of the more contentious issues in the administration of estates arises when the deceased had remarried, leaving ‘old’ and ‘new’ families, which often take different views about how the estate should be divided. The High Court...
Although a trustee is personally responsible for the actions they take, the law is not so harsh as to prevent a trustee who makes an innocent mistake from rectifying it. In a recent case , a ‘receiver’ for a mentally impaired man (her...
Possessions and money are not the only issues which can be considered when making a will. Some people choose to donate their body to medical science after death in the hope that it will be of some practical use. Donated remains are used by medical students...
A recent attempt by the RSPCA to contest a will failed, after the charity pursued in court what was described as an ‘extremely weak’ case. The charity, which inherited two thirds of a millionaire’s estate, demanded an even bigger...
Because of numerous problems with trust law (which is based both on common law and the Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 1964 ), the Government has, after a long consultation process, introduced new legislation in the form of the Perpetuities and...
A recent case , involving a bitter dispute amongst a Norfolk farming family, has shown that a will may not be upheld by the courts if there are serious doubts about the testamentary capacity of the person who made it. In the case...
Owners of properties and other assets abroad will be relieved to hear that the UK has opted out of the European Union (EU) proposals to simplify the administration of estates with a ‘cross-border’ dimension. The EU estimates that there are some...
Challenges to wills based on the argument that the testator (the person who makes a will) lacked mental capacity are becoming more and more frequent and, with an ageing population, this trend looks set to continue. Most such challenges are made by...
