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...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | December 2013 #135The deceased testator, Leslie Stolkin, (T) had two sons from his marriage, the defendant Gary (G) and Mark (M). T divorced their mother in 1989. In September 1997 Pauline Greaves the claimant, (P), also divorced, moved in with T as cohabitant and became financially dependent on him. In 2001, T executed a will effectively leaving his entire estate to G, and also naming him as sole executor and trustee unless he died before T in which case M, a successful and wealthy businessman, would inherit . The will made no provision for P, but T left some notes directing that she was to receive regul...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | November 2013 #134This was a retrial. The original trial in November 2012 was conducted in the absence of the defendant Andrew Jeffrey.
Daphne Jeffrey died in February 2010, aged 76, having divorced her husband David ten days before her death. She had two children – Nicholas and Andrew. She made a will in 2007 appointing Nicholas and Christopher Eyre (a friend left nothing in the will) as her executors and leaving her estate between Nicholas and Andrew’s three children. Prior to that she had made wills in 1982, 2002 and 2004. In 2008 she gifted two properties to Nicholas.
David and Daphne se...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | October 2013 #133Mrs Louisa Ashkettle (the testatrix) died on 27 September 2007, aged 86. She left two wills dated 2 October 1986 and 18 January 1999. While the 1986 will left everything equally between her two sons (the claimants) and her daughter (the respondent), the 1999 will (the will) left everything to the respondent. The claimants stated that:
- (i) the will was not properly executed;
- (ii) the testatrix lacked testamentary capacity at its execution;
- (iii) the testatrix did not know and approve the contents of the will; and
- (iv) if their assertions at (ii)...
Simon v Byford demonstrates that the courts will not set aside lightly a will because the testator has failing cognitive faculties. Harriet Atkinson and Zahra Kanani analyse the case ‘The case highlights that for testamentary capacity to be present, the test in Banks v Goodfellow must be satisfied.’ There has been a sharp rise in …
Continue reading "Testamentary Capacity: Satisfying Banks v Goodfellow"
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | June 2013 #130The testatrix Iris Wilson (Iris) made a will dated 31 August 2010 and died on 6 October 2010. Her will appointed the first defendant Mr Phythian as the sole executor and left her personal effects and the residue of her estate to the second defendant Mrs Phythian and the property known as North Lodge in Yalding Kent in equal shares to Mr and Mrs Phythian.
Mrs Lynda Turner (the claimant) the niece of Iris challenged the will on three grounds:
- Lack of proper execution.
- Lack of mental capacity.
- Lack of knowledge and approval of the contents of the will.<...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | April 2013 #128Daphne Burgess, the deceased (D), died in May 2009 aged 80. She had three children: the appellant, Julia (J), and the respondents, Peter (P) and Libby (L). P and the deceased were very close. He organised her finances and in 2006 bought a bungalow for her to live in. It was to remain in his name, but subject to a lease to his mother to give her security. They agreed that she would pay £21,000 towards the cost of a new kitchen and bathroom that she wanted installed. J and P fell out for a number of reasons, mainly connected with the purchase of the bungalow and related arrangements affect...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | April 2012 #118Daphne Mary Burgess (testatrix), who was a widow, had made a will on 23 September 1996 (1996 will) leaving her entire estate equally between her three children, the first and second claimants and the first defendant. At that time, she was living at 8 Abbey Way, Bradville, Milton Keynes (8 Abbey Way) and, while retaining a sense of financial independence, she relied on her son for the payment of household bills. Her physical health deteriorated as she became older, medication was already required for hypertension when she was diagnosed with diabetes, and an arthritic condition worsened to...
