Gowing & ors v Ward & anr [2024] WTLR 901
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Autumn 2024 #196The deceased died in 2020 at the age of 91. He had three children, one of whom had predeceased him in 2015. The defendants were the deceased’s surviving children, the personal representatives of the deceased’s estate, and the equal beneficiaries of the residuary estate pursuant to a will made in 2018. The claimants were the granddaughters of the deceased (the children of his predeceased son). A family rift opened in 2015 following the death of the deceased’s son. The claimants contended that:
- (a) the deceased lacked testamentary capacity;
- (b) he did not know and app...
Kettridge v Adams & ors [2024] WTLR 979
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Autumn 2024 #196The testatrix died on 19 February 2021. She left a will dated 14 February 2021 leaving all of her property (other than a small bequest to a charity) to the defendants (her sons). The claimant brought a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (IPFDA).
The claimant and the testatrix had begun spending time together in 2014. In 2018, the claimant proposed marriage and the testatrix accepted (though they did not marry and the defendants said that the testatrix had said that she did not really intend to marry the claimant). From September 201...
Williams v Williams & ors [2024] WTLR 1137
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Autumn 2024 #196In 1986, a farm known as Cefn Coed was purchased by Mr and Mrs Williams and one of their sons, the appellant. There was no express declaration of trust. Mr and Mrs Williams and the appellant were in a partnership and the partnership paid the mortgage on Cefn Coed. The wills of Mr and Mrs Williams dealt with Cefn Coed as though it was held on a tenancy in common in equal shares and Mr Williams was found to have served a notice of severance of any joint tenancy before his death. Mrs Williams and then Mr Williams passed away. It was determined that Cefn Coed was not a partnership asset but,...
Clitheroe v Bond [2022] WTLR 1217
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Winter 2022 #189Jean Mary Clitheroe (the deceased) had three children, one of whom (her elder daughter) predeceased without issue. The appellant and respondent were her surviving children, the latter of whom was a victim of sexual abuse committed by her father. This had been detailed in letters written by her father and which were used in divorce proceedings by the deceased. The deceased had been profoundly affected by her elder daughter’s terminal diagnosis and death and became estranged from the respondent to the point that she started to maintain, and continued to maintain until her own death, that t...
Face v Cunningham & anr [2021] WTLR 1261
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Winter 2021 #185The claimant brought a claim to propound an alleged lost will of her late father (the 2017 will) against her sister (the first defendant) and her elder brother (the second defendant). The defendants alleged that the 2017 will, which was propounded on the basis of what was claimed to be a photocopy of it, was a forgery and that consequently the deceased died intestate. Expert evidence as to the genuineness of the alleged signature of the deceased to the 2017 will was inconclusive. The alleged witnesses to the 2017 will gave evidence.
The second defendant counterclaimed for a declar...
Lonsdale v Teasdale & ors [2021] WTLR 1309
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Winter 2021 #185The claimant was the daughter of the deceased. The deceased had made a will dated 15 September 2017 of which the residuary beneficiary was D1, a friend of the deceased. A letter of intent stated that the claimant was not to benefit. The claimant, relying on medical evidence which included a poor score in a cognitive impairment screening test and a letter from the deceased’s GP opining that the deceased had likely suffered from dementia for a number of years before executing the 2017 will, challenged the 2017 will on the basis of a lack of testamentary capacity due to memory issues, and D...
Re Clitheroe [2021] WTLR 449
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2021 #183The claimant (C) and the defendant (D) were the surviving children of the deceased. Her other child, E, had died of cancer without children. Although the deceased had been close to D and D’s daughter, this changed after a disagreement between D and the deceased about E’s medication, when the deceased threatened that she would not forgive or speak to D again. The Deputy Master found that D was not responsible for the estrangement and that the deceased had irrationally maintained that it was D who cut her out rather than the other way around. E’s death had a profound effe...
The British University in Dubai v Ebrahimi [2021] WTLR 703
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2021 #183The deceased died on 4 July 2018 leaving a disputed will, dated 3 May 2018, probate of which was granted to the defendant, who together with his wife were the only beneficiaries.
The 2018 will was a holographic one-page will. On one side it bore the signatures of two witnesses who, it was common ground, had witnessed the testator’s signature on 4 May 2018 when not together at the same time and so did not validly attest the will in accordance with s9, Wills Act 1837. On the reverse of the will were two further signatures dated 3 May 2018, belonging to two further wit...
Scarle v Scarle [2019] WTLR 1369
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Winter 2019 #177A husband and his wife were both found dead at their home in October 2016. Both were found to have died of hypothermia, and the wife‘s body in a more advanced state of decomposition. They left jointly-owned property which fell to be distributed differently depending on which of them died first. The parties were the executors of their respective estates.
s184 Law of Property Act 1925 provides as follows: “In all cases where… two or more persons have died in circumstances rendering it uncertain which of them survived the other or others, such deaths shall (subject to any or...