Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Winter 2022 #189In the main action, the claimant sought to prove a purported will dated 2014. The second and fourth defendants challenged the validity of the will on the grounds first of lack of knowledge and approval and secondly, by a late amendment, of undue influence. That amendment required a substantial amount of further evidence to be filed. In a judgment following trial ([2022] EWHC 159 (Ch), available in the WTLR web reports as WTLR(w) 2022-08) the judge found the 2014 will to be invalid for want of knowledge and approval, but dismissed the claim that it was procured by undue influence. The jud...
Laura Abbott provides an update from the Court of Appeal on whether parties in Inheritance Act 1975 cases can be compelled to undertake ADR ‘Moylan J reasoned that in his experience, FDRs often achieve a great deal, even if the parties are resistant or actively hostile to them.’ In the September 2019 issue of TELTJ …
Continue reading "The 1975 Act: Compelling communication"
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Laura Abbott explores whether ADR should be compulsory in Inheritance Act cases ‘The judge felt that she could not be certain that the intention of the CPR was to impose ADR on parties who do not consent and so she held that the High Court does not have the power to order it.’ An Inheritance …
Continue reading "The 1975 Act: The finest of balances"
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Peter Hirst and Anne Kentish digest a new report on mediation ‘Parties are often obliged to use mediation, or the courts pressure them into doing so.’ The Scottish government has just published a wide-ranging and informative report on mediation as it is practised across the English-speaking world: An International Evidence Review of Mediation in Civil …
Continue reading "Mediation: Taking the high road"
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Sam Hayman advises on where he sees an emerging market for ADR ‘Now more than ever, the judiciary has a key role in progressing the uptake of ADR.’ Mediation in costs proceedings is a relatively contemporary option. There was a very apparent emergence of such options following the introduction of the Jackson reforms and this …
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Sapna Garg discusses the recent interim report by the Civil Justice Council Working Group on ADR ‘Perhaps the most significant recent development in this debate is the digital awakening that has occurred in the judicial system and the recent realisation that technology can potentially dispense with a myriad of administrative hurdles prevalent in a non-digitised …
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Andrew Hogan sets out the different strategies for approaching mediation ‘What is crucial is to lay the groundwork early with a detailed and reasonable offer of ADR in whatever mode is thought appropriate.’Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is an alternative to litigation. Seen 20 years ago, as touchy-feely nonsense, ‘being nice’ to the ‘being nasty’ of …
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David Sawtell analyses recent caselaw on Part 36 ‘There is a tension between the natural inclination to make a proportionate costs order where a party has lost on discrete issues and the prescriptive nature of Part 36.’Practitioners frequently debate tactics and strategy when negotiating the litigation and settlement of claims. One of the most important …
Continue reading "Part 36: Humble offerings"
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The courts have once again punished a wholly successful party in costs for their unreasonable refusal to mediate – a trend that is only likely to grow, writes Ben Handy ‘The judge found that there were reasonable prospects that mediation would have succeeded, at least in part. The defendant was not justified in coming to …
Continue reading "Costs Sanctions: Every loser wins"
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Neil Jamieson examines the increasing significance of mediation ‘While mediation remains a voluntary process which no party can be compelled to engage in, there is now is an undeniable onus on parties to attempt alternative dispute resolution if they wish to avoid costs sanctions.’Would-be litigants certainly cannot be criticised for approaching the prospect of bringing …
Continue reading "ADR: Mediate and be damned"
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