We have expertise acting for all sorts of clients – individual beneficiaries, trustees, executors, administrators and charities – either as claimant or defendant. Our experience covers all sorts of claims relating to disputed wills or trusts, including:
- Claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975
- Lack of testamentary capacity
- Undue influence allegations
- Alleged breach of duty and personal liability of trustees
- Proprietary estoppel
- Removal and/or substitution of executors or trustees
- Charity legacy disputes
Recent examples of our work include:
- Acting in the significant Court of Appeal case of Burns v Burns, considering testamentary capacity and want of knowledge and approval in an elderly testator.
- Successfully recovering a sizeable sum for a widow who was left with little from her late husband’s estate.
- Advising in Kennedy v Kennedy, a landmark decision applying the newly stated law on equitable mistake.
- Helping a major musical education charity protect its position as beneficiary in a substantial estate subject to an Inheritance Act claim.
- Advising the executors of an extremely valuable estate involving the interpretation of a handwritten, home-made will.
- Assisting a Cambridge college which is the main beneficiary of a multijurisdictional £3m estate being disputed by the deceased's partner.