Continue reading "Statutory wills: Standing in the testator‘s shoes"
Statutory wills: Standing in the testator‘s shoes
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A deputy had made an application to vary a statutory will and disputed that carers and unidentified charities needed to be served and notified of the same. The Official Solicitor made an application to resolve the dispute on service and the court determined, as argued by the Official Solicitor, that the rules required service of the variation application on carers and unidentified charities but that service on the carers could be dispensed with. The Official Solicitor made an application for the costs of the service issue.
CJF was a thirteen year old boy who suffered very serious neurological damage at birth. He was initially cared for by his mother, KJF, but she had also suffered complications as a result of CJF’s birth, so he ended up being cared for by a foster parent, LR under a Special Guardianship order. LR passed away in 2013, and the Special Guardianship order was transferred to LR’s daughter, EH, and her husband, AH. CJF’s father, BJF, had denied his paternity, was not named on his birth certificate, and had played no role in CJF’s life.
Before she died, LR brought a claim against the NHS T...
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Continue reading "Statutory wills: Standing in the testator‘s shoes"
This was an appeal of an order allowing an applicant (I) for an order authorising her to execute a statutory will to be released from the obligation to serve the papers on someone entitled to a half share of the estate on intestacy and who would be disinherited if the statutory will was executed.
D was 30 and lived with his mother, I. D had cerebral palsy resulting from complications at birth and had been awarded damages of £3.1m in an action for clinical negligence. I was D’s deputy for property and affairs.
D’s father (F) had no contact with D for over 20 ye...
Continue reading "Statutory Wills: Doing the right thing"
Continue reading "Statutory Wills: A delicate exercise"
Continue reading "Statutory Wills: Objective and fair?"
JC had four biological children: A, B, C and D. A was born in 1942 to a 15-year old mother. He was subsequently fostered, but throughout his life always understood JC to be his father and in the forty years preceding trial had worked and been in regular contact with him. JC denied parentage of A, but paternity was conclusively established by a court authorised DNA test. B and C were born in wedlock, in 1953 and 1955 respectively. However, they first had contact with their father in or around 2006/7. Their relationships remained strained, C in particular refusing to attend the hearing as ...