About Wills & Probate Law
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Drafting wills and administering estates
Contains will precedents, IHT returns and probate precedents. Contentious trusts and estates covers the disputes that can frequently arise.
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Latest Wills & Probate Practice Notes
Fees—Wills & ProbateRegistration of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Civil Partnerships (Fees) Regulations 2016, SI 2016/911, Sch 1Land Registration Fee...
The distribution of an estate under Islamic law can be quite complex, and this flowchart sets out both the main steps to be undertake...
Latest Wills & Probate Precedents
1 I declare that if at my death my net estate shall exceed the nil-rate band for the purposes of Inheritance Tax at that date my...
1 to [name of donee] all my [ordinary O...
Produced in partnership with Kerry Bornman of 3 Stone Buildings 1 Digital Assets means an electronic record in which an...
To [insert name of second joint tenant] of [...
I hereby declare that 1 at the date of this my will I have signed and dated and deposited with my solicitors a sealed memorandum...
Latest Wills & Probate Q&As
Featured Wills & Probate content
What steps should be taken where a trust deed has been lost and a copy cannot be located?
How can an individual request a search for a caveat before applying for a grant?
Perfecting imperfect gifts—a new authority (Khan v Mahmood)
Property analysis: In this appeal the court was asked to determine the effect of the respondent attempting to transfer his legal interest in a...
Trust disputes—trustees' removal under section 41 of the Trustee Act 1925
Trust disputes—trustees' removal under section 41 of the Trustee Act 1925This Practice Note covers the purpose and procedure of section 41 of the...
Devolution of assets and the need for a grant
Devolution of assets and the need for a grantWhen a person dies, they usually own some form of property whether it be land, investments, cash,...
If personal chattels are left in a Will to trustees to distribute in accordance with a written memorandum, how should the items be distributed of no memorandum is found following the testator's death?
Capacity to make or revoke a Will
Capacity to make or revoke a WillIn order to make a valid Will, the testator must satisfy a capacity test on two separate occasions:•when they give...
If an executor has intermeddled, can they have power reserved to them?
Private Client—Wills, secret trusts and proprietary estoppel (Titcombe v Ison)
Private Client analysis: The court rejected a claim brought by a disappointed family member of a deceased relative that the said relative had intended...
A beneficiary of an estate is buying out the other beneficiaries’ entitlement so that they can keep an investment portfolio in the estate. Should the executors use the value as at the date of death to calculate what the beneficiary needs to pay to the others or should they re-value the estate as at the date of the transfer/buy-out?
Removal of executor for irrational and hostile conduct (Hudman v Morris)
Private Client analysis: An executrix, Sharon Hudman (Sharon), brought a Part 8 Claim under section 50 of the Administration of Justice Act 1985 (AJA...
Charities win Will construction claim (Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind v Beasant)
Private Client analysis: A beneficiary under the Will of Audrey Thelma Anita Arkell (the ‘Deceased’) brought a Part 8 claim against the executors to...
Executors—beware section 284 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (Sleight (as trustee in bankruptcy of Charles Edward Holdroyd deceased) v Callin)
Restructuring & Insolvency analysis: This decision clearly demonstrates the dangers of dealing with assets falling within the assets of a deceased’s...
Contentious probate—section 9 of the Wills Act 1837—capacity—knowledge and approval—pleading (Gardiner v Tabet)
Private Client analysis: The deceased executed a very short homemade Will from his hospital bed during the last weeks of his life. The defendants...
Two discretionary trusts are established through two deeds of variation of the Will of a deceased individual. How do the related settlement rules apply to the two trusts created and what is their effect on the nil rate band available to each trust? Does section 266 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 have any application?
What will land registry require to enable a charge to be released when an individual lender was about to sign a form DS1 but passes away before signing?
Where a property is held as tenants in common by Will—trustees and an individual (X) and the terms of the Will trust authorise the sale and purchase of a replacement property (subject to X’s consent), must the replacement property be held in the same proportions of beneficial interest as the original property?
Will Brexit have any impact on the application of the EU Succession Regulation on cross-border estates, and the drafting of Wills in England and Wales?
Associated legal terms
Benjamin order
An order that the personal representatives may distribute the estate on the footing that certain events have or have not happened.
Executor de son tort
A person not lawfully appointed but who has taken it upon himself to administer the estate or intermeddles with the administration of the estate.
Grant of Representation
A document issued by the court to prove the legal authority of the person entrusted to deal with a deceased person's estate (called the personal representative). If there is a Will appointing a personal representative, that individual is called the executor/executrix. The executor will obtain a grant of representation called the grant of probate.
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