Upon her late father’s death, our client found herself left out of her father’s Will which was heavily in favour of her sister who was to receive a sizeable inheritance, including a property. Sometimes the extent of the discrepancy between various gifts to children is not fully appreciated at the Will making stage, and proper consideration ought to be given to the potential increase in property values when making gifts of property.

Our client had a number of heavily debilitating illnesses which affected her quality of life and she was in special need of funds to improve her care and treatment. With our assistance, she applied for reasonable financial provision from her late father’s estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 – to seek funds to meet her health and care needs.

Our client was keen to avoid an extensive legal claim, which would have been difficult to cope with and much of the funds would have been put towards legal fees, so with our assistance a mediation was arranged and settlement achieved at a relatively early stage. The settlement resulted in our client receiving a sizable division of the estate’s assets, significantly more than envisaged under the Will; namely the benefit of a lump sum payment to assist with her care needs and to receive additional equipment which will improve her quality of life and enable her to better cope with the conditions she has.

Our client’s partner died without making a Will and under the intestacy rules the deceased’s son inherited the entire estate including a property in which our client and her late partner had lived together for many years prior to her partner’s death.

Our client struggled with the loss of her partner and could not contemplate moving out of the property, and it was our client’s priority to keep the property as it was her home.

With specialist assistance from our Contentious Trusts and Probate team, our client pursued an application against her late partner’s estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 in order to seek reasonable financial provision, namely to keep the property.

Following the issue, the parties took steps to negotiate settlement and the team at JMW played a central role in achieving a solution that allowed our client to get the desired outcome she had hoped for. As a result of the action taken, our client received the benefit of a policy and she was able to agree on a settlement with her late partner’s son which involved the payment of a limited fixed sum in return for the transfer of the late partner’s property to our client.

At the conclusion of the matter, our client had the following to say:

“Alison Parry this lady is the best solicitor I have ever had. She helped me from day one I had no idea what I was doing or expecting. Alison sorted everything for me and always made sure that I was okay and I understood every step, and I was so very pleased that Alison got me the outcome I always wanted. I will be eternally grateful for all that she did for me. So if anyone is looking for a great solicitor Alison Parry is your lady 100%.”

Our specialist Contentious Trusts and Probate team were instructed by two sisters who had been left a 50% share in a property that their late mother owned with her husband (not their father).

On investigation, it became clear the solicitors who had prepared their late mother’s Will had failed to check how the property was legally owned. It transpired that both their late mother and her husband had instructed their conveyancing solicitors that the property was to be held as tenants in common but when registering the property the conveyancing solicitors incorrectly registered them as joint tenants meaning their late mother’s 50% interest in the property passed by way of Survivorship to her husband and not as per her wishes stated under her will (namely to her daughters upon her death). As a consequence, the gift of a 50% interest in the property to our clients failed and other than some pieces of jewellery our clients were disinherited.

We carefully considered the position and obtained a copy of the original conveyancing file to ascertain the instructions provided by the late mother and her husband regarding how the property was to be held. Once confirmed we advised our clients of their professional negligence claim on the basis they were beneficiaries who would have inherited under the late mother’s will had the solicitors preparing the late mother’s Will checked that the property was held as tenants in common and therefore the 50% intended to pass to our clients could pass under the terms of the Will.

A letter of claim was sent to the solicitors who prepared the will and with a view to exploring the possibility of a negotiated settlement, we approached the late mother’s husband to see if a resolution could be achieved. As a result of those negotiations, he agreed to enter into a declaration that provided for him to retain a life interest in the property and on his death the late mother’s 50% share of the property would pass to our clients in equal shares i.e. they would each receive a 25% interest in the property as had been originally intended by their late mother’s will. We were also able to secure payment towards our clients’ costs from the solicitors that prepared the will despite them refuting any claim of negligence and costs not being recoverable on the basis our clients’ loss had been mitigated.

In assisting the client, Ben undertook initial enquiries to gather evidence in support of the claims (including sending a “Larke v Nugus” request to the solicitors who drafted the Will and also requesting and reviewing medical records). Ben then sent a robust letter of claim to the other parties, setting out the claims in full. The parties attended a mediation and shortly thereafter, the claims were settled in our client’s favour without the need to bring court proceedings. The client received a substantial proportion of the Estate and was very happy with the settlement achieved.