Laura Abbott sets out what needs to be considered when challenging the validity of a will prepared by a professional ‘The court will require the strongest of evidence to find a will to be invalid and it is extremely difficult to succeed where the medical records and solicitors’ evidence are all supportive of validity.’ As …
Continue reading "Wills: A risky business"
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Mark Baxter sets out the current thinking on proving the existence of lost wills ‘It appears difficult to prove a lost will in the absence of supporting evidence that a will existed at all: the court will wish to corroborate the evidence in favour of the lost will with evidence that a will that could …
Continue reading "Wills: Gone, but not forgotten"
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Autumn 2019 #176The claimants were practising solicitors and trustees of a trust created by the will of John Hine (T) who died on 4 January 1992. T had had four children. Two, Beryl Clowes and John Hine, were the third and fourth defendants. One, Philip Hines, pre-deceased T leaving two children, Judith Barlow and Janet Lomax, the first and second defendants. The fourth, Basil Hine, had survived T but died before the proceedings were issued leaving a widow, Barbara Hine, who was the fifth defendant.
T had been the sole freehold owner of the family farm, Brown Edge Farm. Clause 3 of his will devis...
Partnership arrangements can be problematic upon death. Katie Alsop discusses with reference to Kingsley v Kingsley ‘Had the partners signed the partnership agreement, properly recorded the ownership – both legal and beneficial – of the farm land, documented the terms on which land outside the farm land was occupied, and engaged in some element of …
Continue reading "Wills: Deeds not words"
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Will drafters need to be careful of how they frame conditions applying to testamentary gifts. Michael O’Sullivan explains ‘The judge held that ignorance of the condition did not make it impossible or incapable of fulfilment in the sense required in the authorities which Judith and Janet had relied on.’ The case of Naylor v Barlows …
Continue reading "Wills: Timed out?"
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Stephen Lawson evaluates the case for formal supported will-making ‘What a will preparer should not do is simply answer a tick box “does the testator have capacity yes/no” – a question that is all too often seen in will preparation files.’ There is currently much debate about the introduction of a formal supported will-making scheme …
Continue reading "Wills: The times they are a-changin’"
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Justin Holmes suggests a modern take on decided cases is needed to reflect the intentions of the 21st century testator ‘The 21st century problem which arose for the trustees was that, on the face of the will, the gifts to Enid and Victoria in clause 5 might both have failed, and in that event there …
Continue reading "Wills: A question of construction"
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Alison Craggs sets out important points to consider when advising a transgender client ‘Under s15 of the GRA, the fact that a person’s gender has changed does not affect the disposal or devolution of property under a will or other instrument made before 4 April 2005. However, the disposal or devolution of property under a …
Continue reading "Wills: Gender balance"
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Sheila Rusike and Jo Summers examine worldwide precedents for accepting unconventional wills ‘The fact that the text message was unsent only demonstrated that the deceased wanted it to be found after his death and not before, further supporting the argument that he wanted it to express his final wishes.’ The Law Commission’s recent consultation paper, …
Continue reading "Wills: Can an unsent text message be a valid will?"
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Amanda Noyce outlines the lessons from a case concerning how a disputed share of a settlement fund should be assigned ‘The question that the Public Trustee sought to have determined was whether, according to the terms of the settlement, David‘s share accrued to the share that was held for his brother, Jeffery, and so was …
Continue reading "Wills: Generation gain"
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