An elderly woman knew what she doing when she drew up a new will, even though she was suffering from some mental impairment at the time. That was the decision of the Court of Appeal in a case involving a family dispute between the woman’s grandchildren and their uncle. The court heard that in 2003,
Inheritance tax receipts are set to increase by more than 20% this year, according to the Office for National Statistics. The latest figures show that death duties are on track to bring in £4.6 billion in the 12 months to February. That compares with the £3.8 billion for the same period last year. Rising house
A wife who claimed her husband tore up a will that left her nothing has lost her legal battle to inherit his estate. The case involved an elderly Ukrainian man who made the will in 2010, a couple of years before he died and one year after his second marriage. The will left his estate
The dispute over whether a woman’s estate should pass to her daughter or to a number of charities is to be settled in the Supreme Court. The case involved a woman who fell out with her daughter because she eloped with a boyfriend when she was 17. The daughter later married the boyfriend and now
Families inheriting estates valued at more than £2m will have to pay probate fees of £20,000 under new proposals being put forward by the government. The move would also see the beneficiaries of much smaller estates paying no fee at all. Under the current system, all estates worth more than £5,000 pay a standard probate
New reporting forms have been introduced to improve protection for people using lasting powers of attorney (LPA). LPAs enable you to appoint someone to be your deputy and look after your interests should you lose the capacity to make decisions for yourself at some point in the future. Deputies can be appointed to make decisions
When it comes to estate planning on the death of an individual, the default legal positions for married and unmarried couples who have not made wills are very different. There is a common misconception that long term partners are automatically entitled to a share of their partner’s estate if they die without a will. However
A court has ordered that a deceased man’s bank account should be frozen because of a family dispute over his estate. The case involved a man who had died intestate, that is, without having made a will. His bank accounts containing £500,000 were closed down by his eldest son, from his first marriage. The man’s
The number of people challenging what they consider to be unfair wills has risen by 20% over the last 10 years. There is also a growing tendency for people to consider that they are entitled to inherit their parents’ wealth, even if their parents want to leave some or all of their money to charities,
A woman’s second will in which she declared that she wanted to leave most of her estate to a close friend has been declared invalid because it wasn’t properly executed. It means that a number of charities will now inherit even though it’s unlikely that she wanted her money to pass to them. The case