Wills & Trusts Law Reports | October 2016 #163Kenneth William Jordan (Mr Jordan) died on 4 August 2012 leaving a wife (from whom he was estranged) and two adult children. The claimant was Mr Jordan’s partner during the last years of his life and the first defendant was his daughter from a relationship that predated his marriage. He had previously made a will giving pecuniary legacies to the first defendant and two of his sisters with the residuary estate passing to the claimant. Subsequently, in January 2012, Mr Jordan gave instructions to Mr Mumford (who was his brother-in-law), a solicitor with the firm Melia Mumford, to make a ne...
McCabe v McCabe [2015] reaffirms the legal test for testamentary capacity in Banks v Goodfellow [1875]. Simrun Garcha reports ‘The court must consider all the relevant evidence and draw inferences from the material in reaching its decision as to whether the propounder of the will has proved the testator knew and approved its contents.’ The …
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | September 2015 #152Mr Butcher was born on 4 October 1939. He lived alone in a bungalow at 42 Russell Road, Enfield, London. He had no surviving parents and no children. He was close to his only sibling, Yvonne Butcher, with whom he lived. She died in 2002. Mr Butcher died on 5 May 2013 aged 73. He left a net estate worth £482,295.00. He was in good physical and mental health at the time of his death.
It was likely that in 1991 Mr Butcher had made a will which left his estate to Yvonne. In 2003, he made a new will following her death (‘the 2003 will’). He did so without the involvement of any profess...
Araba Taylor examines Re Butcher [2015], a case that puts the principles of Gill v Woodall into practice ‘The single test comes into its own where the court has enough facts, expert opinions and other evidence to enable it to make findings as to how the will was prepared and/or executed.’ Before the CA decision …
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | April 2015 #148Elizabeth Jane Walker (Mrs Walker) was born on 25 March 1956. She married John Walker in 1981, and with him she had two daughters, Jennifer and Alison. In 2007, she left her husband and began to live with Michael Badmin (Mr Badmin).
On 20 June 2009, Mrs Walker was diagnosed with a terminal, malignant brain tumour. Following the prescription of medication, she began to suffer from symptoms of psychosis. However, her condition gradually improved, and she was discharged from hospital on 20 July 2009. Mrs Walker’s health begun to deteriorate in Autumn 2009. By October, she was bed-bou...
Edward Hicks explores the implications of Re Catling [2014] ‘The Ministry of Justice has recently rejected regulation of the will-writing sector. This case is an illustration of the potential disastrous consequences of allowing unregulated so-called “professionals” to act in this sector.’ In 2005 Mrs Catling was an elderly widow. She had eight children. She was …
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | July/August 2014 #141The appeal dealt with the issue of whether the late Constance Simon (1) had testamentary capacity and (2) knew and approved her will she executed at or immediately after her 88th birthday party on 18 December 2005. The judge below answered the questions in the affirmative, on of Mrs Simon’s sons, Robert Simon appealed.
Mrs Simon had originally had four children, who each owned 24.99% of the shareholding in a family company. Mrs Simon owned the other 0.04% of the shares. Robert was the managing director. Her sons Hilary and Johnathan did not play a part in the business. Davi...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | June 2014 #140The claimants were the representatives of Louise Beck (Louise)’s family in Germany. Louise died on 17 January 2011 and the claimants sought a declaration that Louise had died intestate and that the two wills which she had executed on 1 March 2009 (the first will) and 2 May 2010 (the second will) were invalid.
Louise held substantial assets in both England and Germany, mainly comprising real estate and cash. The wills purported to deal with all of her assets in both jurisdictions. If the wills were found to be invalid then the English estate would pass to her surviving niece...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | April 2014 #138This was a contentious probate action against all five of the wills of a schizophrenic testator. While he had benefitted from a stable and conventional childhood, the deceased had sustained serious injuries at the age of nineteen in a serious bicycle accident. He soon after succumbed to the symptoms of severe schizophrenia and logical thought disorder, from which he suffered for the remainder of his lifetime. His modes of living were unconventional. He lived alone on the fringes of society, and despite his considerable wealth, he lived in basic, if not squalid conditions. While it was ac...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | December 2013 #135Francois Devillebichot (Francois) died on 3 March 2011. He made a will dated 19 February 2011. The proponents of the will were four of the defendants, while the claimant Mrs Chloe Brennan was Francois’ only child and sole heir under the intestacy rules. The will left £100,000 to Chloe, a studio flat in France to his sister Jacqueline and the residuary estate to his four siblings. After inheritance tax the net estate was £450,000.
Chloe alleged that her father was happy to die intestate in the knowledge that she would inherit his entire estate. Prior to the contested will he had ne...
