Alison Parry of JMW’s Commercial Litigation team successfully assisted an unmarried partner in resolving a dispute with her late partner’s son in respect of an application under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 allowing our client to retain a property she shared with her late partner for many years.

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: