Archives: Wills, probate and administration

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Procedure – deputyship applications

December 2024/January 2025 | Wills, probate and administration

Practitioners advising on deputyships are reminded that all their applications must now be made online, or risk financial penalties. The requirement came into effect on 4 December 2024 and practitioners should by now have received a notification from HMCTS informing that applications are to be submitted via the gov.uk digital portal. Court of Protection Practice …

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Wills – revocation

December 2024/January 2025 | Wills, probate and administration

By tearing up a will or otherwise destroying it intentionally, a testator can revoke their will (s20 WA 1837). A recent case concerned whether T had sufficient mental capacity to make a deathbed revocation of her will by tearing it three quarters of the way through. Her solicitor helped her tear through the rest of …

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Proprietary estoppel – new will unconscionable

December 2024/January 2025 | Wills, probate and administration

This case involved a family, two farms and promises made to one of the sons that he would inherit a farm. His parents (both now deceased) bought both farms during their marriage and owned them in equal shares. After agricultural college, RA worked with his parents in their farming business, overseeing operations at one of …

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Relief from forfeiture – assisted dying

November 2024 | Wills, probate and administration

Given the upcoming parliamentary debate and vote on assisted dying in England, this case has particular resonance. The High Court has granted H relief from the forfeiture rule following his wife’s assisted suicide in Switzerland. Their two children had been present during her assisted death but the court concluded that their presence did not constitute …

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Costs – I(PFD)A claim

November 2024 | Wills, probate and administration

The procedure for inheritance claims is governed by the CPR, and the litigation costs of such claims must be treated separately to the claimant’s substantive award. This case concerned the important issue of whether, in a dependency claim under the I(PFD)A 1975 Act, costs should always be dealt with as a separate issue. Could the …

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Procedure – OPG queries on LPA execution

November 2024 | Wills, probate and administration

What’s the correct response to a query from the OPG as to whether an LPA was validly executed? The MoJ has provided helpful if perhaps surprising guidance that solicitors are not legally obliged to response to OPG enquiries. The courts have already provided guidance on what’s expected of certificate providers. In TA v The Public …

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