Families who leave court the losers after inheritance claims
Record
numbers of inheritance disputes are going through the courts as modern family structures
and rising house prices push more families to contest unfavourable outcomes.
Two recent cases which
have seen families losing out after legal action include two brothers who have
run up fees of more than their entire inheritance by disputing a stepmothers’
share of their father’s estate, and estranged daughter Heather Ilott who
challenged her mother’s will after discovering she had been excluded.
That challenge set her
on a ten-year battle which ended this month, when the Supreme Court gave its ruling
on Ilott v The Blue Cross and others.
Heather Ilott was excluded from her mother’s will following a long
estrangement after she left home as a teenager.
After her mother’s death, finding that the entire estate had been left
to three animal charities, she claimed provision under the Inheritance
(Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (the I(PFD)A 1975), which is
designed to protect a surviving spouse or civil partner and dependents who are
in need of maintenance but are not left
adequate financial provision under the will of a deceased person or under the
rules that apply when there is no will.
Heather Ilott’s case
rested on her claim that she would be in a position of poverty, reliant upon
state benefits. That claim was successful,
with the Court of Appeal making an award of £143,000 plus an option on a
£20,000 fund. Now, that has been
overturned by the Supreme Court, who have reduced it to £50,000. In making their decision, the Law Lords
resolved many concerns around the general principle
of testamentary freedom which had arisen following the Court of Appeal
judgement, and clarified a number of issues under the I(PFD) Act.
Said wills and trusts
expert Carolyn Snellgrove, Gamlins Law: “The reduction in
the award to Heather Ilott by the Supreme Court is a good sign for anyone
wishing to make a potentially difficult decision over where they leave their
estate, as it reinforces the right of individuals to make their own choices
when writing their will. It pushes back
against the earlier ruling, a landmark judgement which had caused concern that
it might prove harder for parents to disinherit children in future,
unless they had very strong grounds for doing so.”
The trend towards increased
inheritance disputes has been attributed to a number of factors. Increasing
numbers of so-called ‘blended’ families where divorced parents re-marry is one
such factor, with original family members not wishing to share with newer
members, such as step-parents or step-siblings.
That was the reason
behind the recent legal action by two farmer’s sons, who attempted to block
their stepmother getting an extra £25,000 in their father’s will. Their action
has cost them their entire inheritance of £62,500 each, as Richard and Jonathan
Powell have been ordered to pay £200,000 in legal fees, after claiming that
their disabled father was unfit to make the final will which left £125,000 to
his second wife. The sons had maintained that an earlier will should stand,
which would have seen their stepmother receive £100,000.
Another factor behind
many inheritance challenges is property values. Where family are excluded, or
receive less than expected, a large property price tag is believed to be
fuelling many more claims, as more people are inclined to take the costly step
of litigation to get the matters before the courts.
To make a claim under
the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975,
a claim must be made within six months from the date
of the grant of probate. For cohabitees, they need to show they were
living as husband and wife or as civil partners with their
partner throughout the two-year period before they died.
She added: “It all
comes down to careful planning and, wherever possible, communicating your
decision to family, to try and avoid later rifts. And if you are excluding children, a spouse
or civil partner from your will, you should certainly get specialist advice, to
be sure that your plans will not cause problems down the line. Doing so also means there is clear evidence
of what you intended to do if a will is challenged at a later date.”
Most disputed wills are
settled at County Court, but figures released in September last year showed
that a record 116 such cases reached the High Court in 2015, eight times the
number heard in 2005.
Web site content note:
This is not legal advice; it is intended to provide information of
general interest about current legal issues.
