Wills & Trusts Law Reports | May 2012 #119Mr and Mrs L made wills in mirror terms leaving the property that they owned as tenants in common and which was their only substantial asset on trust for the survivor to live in and thereafter to Mrs L’s children from a previous relationship. There were substitutionary provisions that benefited one of Mrs L’s grandchildren, his father, Mrs L’s son, having died.
Mrs L died. Mr L brought rectification proceedings under s20 of the Administration of Justice Act 1982 on the basis that Mrs L had not intended for his life interest to be cut down on his...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | May 2012 #119Alfred Thomas Rawlings (H) and Maureen Catherine Rawlings (W) were husband and wife who, on 17 May 1999, signed mirror wills leaving their entire estate to each other or, if the other failed to survive, to the appellant who was treated as their son. The respondents, who were their natural sons, were excluded but stood to benefit on intestacy if the wills were invalid. In the event, by mistake H signed W’s will and W signed H’s will but the error was not noticed then, or on the death of W. It was only noticed after the death of H in August 2006 when a dispute arose as to whether the estat...
Austin v Woodward clarifies the limits of ‘clerical error’ as a ground for rectification, as Michael O’Sullivan explains ‘Many cases of rectification are effectively uncontested because the solicitor draftsman and their insurers have an interest in the application succeeding.’ The case of Austin v Woodward & anor [2011] concerned an application for rectification of a …
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