Probate and Inheritance Claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975

Wills and the law of intestacy do not always produce a fair result; reasonable financial provision is not always made for everyone entitled to expect it. All is not necessarily lost as the law gives certain people the opportunity of claiming against an estate, or contesting/challenging a will, even if there is no provision for them under the Will or the Intestacy Rules.

 Hewetts provides a comprehensive service for probate claims and deals with a wide range of contentious probate work, for both charities and individuals and regularly deals with high value estates.

Examples of the types of claim that we deal with are:

• Probate actions where the mental capacity of the deceased is in dispute, or there are other disputes relating to a will, e.g. want of knowledge and approval claims, undue influence claims, etc
• Applications under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975
• Actions for or against negligent and/or fraudulent personal representatives for breach of trust
• Litigation involving the construction of wills and trusts and their rectification
• Contentious applications to the Court of Protection including applications in relation to Statutory Wills
• Applications to remove or substitute executors or trustees
• Trust litigation in respect of property including proprietary estoppel claims
• Asset tracing and recovery

You may have a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 if you fall into one of the specified categories of permitted applicants. It may be necessary to show that you were dependent on the deceased at the time of death, or living with him or her for two years immediately before the death. If your application is successful, the Court can make a variety of orders which effectively rewrite the Will or the Intestacy Rules to ensure that reasonable financial provision is made for you.

Time limits are critical in family provision applications; if an application is not made within the specified time, you may lose the right to pursue what would otherwise have been a perfectly good claim. If you think you may have a claim, you should obtain specialist legal advice right away.

In addition, there may be circumstances in which disputes may arise over Wills that have been created or over the way in which the estate of the deceased is being administered. For example there may be doubt as to whether the deceased had testamentary capacity to make a Will or as to whether undue influence has been used by anyone to bring about the Will made by the deceased.

There may also be instances in which the meaning of clauses in the Will can be open to interpretation thereby in some cases necessitating the rectification or construction of clauses in the Wills by the court, or bringing claims against solicitors for the negligent drafting of Wills.

Furthermore, Executors and Trustees may need to be brought to account for the way in which they have administered the estate or trust, and the loss occasioned to the estate or trust as a result thereof. In extreme cases it may be necessary to apply to the court for their removal from office. Conversely, Executors and Trustees may need protection from beneficiaries, including the ability to seek directions from the court in particular situations.

It is also common to find trust arguments over property arising in the context of estates, to include express, constructive and resulting trust arguments, and arguments based on proprietary estoppel. This is a particularly specialized area of the law of contentious probate that Hewetts is well equipped to handle.

We provide an early assessment of the merits of your case and we are proactive and cost effective in seeking a successful resolution on your behalf. We will explore solutions to bring an early resolution to cases without the need for court proceedings. However if this is not possible we deliver focussed support, practical guidance and effective representation drawing on the whole firm’s knowledge and resource to achieve the best results for our clients.

We will thoroughly investigate your case and provide you with a realistic assessment of your case. Where necessary we will obtain expert evidence. We will then advance the claim on your behalf and we will actively seek to negotiate a settlement of your claim without the need for court proceedings.

Hewetts is committed to providing you with the latest funding options and we are able to offer a variety of arrangements including privately paying fees, conditional fees and after the event insurance.

We will discuss your specific options at the outset of our instructions and we will do everything we can to assist in helping you choose the most appropriate route.

We offer free initial advice, limited to the first 30-60 minutes, regardless of whether or not you later wish to instruct us to act for you.