DUAL Asset received an enquiry from a solicitor following the unexpected death of a client. The solicitor was seeking insurance to protect the deceased’s estate and the only beneficiary, the deceased’s wife.
They were concerned a daughter of the deceased had not been provided for in the deceased’s will. The daughter was a child of the deceased’s first marriage. The wife, named as beneficiary in the deceased’s will, was the deceased’s second wife.
Sadly, the deceased had lost contact with his daughter after the relationship had become strained following the divorce. The daughter was now in her 20s and was just starting out in life. The solicitor was concerned the daughter could make an Inheritance Act claim for financial provision, so was reluctant to pay the estate to the deceased’s wife before the expiry of the 10 month claim period. The deceased’s wife had requested an early payment to secure the purchase of a property for her to live in.
The daughter had been in contact with the solicitor and all correspondence to date had been amicable. She had seemingly accepted the situation and had also secured payment of a death in service benefit payment, which fell outside of the estate.
Kate Thorp, Manager of DUAL Asset’s Executor and Inheritance Protection team, said:
“This case presented some difficulties for us.
A child of the deceased often has a case to make a claim. But as we know, a successful claim is not automatically guaranteed. Costs however in defending such a claim, can mount up very quickly.”
Recent infamous court cases, Illot v Mitson (2017) and Miles v Shearer (2021) can show there is no automatic right for a child to have a successful claim. All cases are influenced by their own facts and courts will look at the level of financial provision already provided by the deceased prior to their death and whether this was reasonable.
Kate Thorp stated:
“In this case, the deceased had financially provided for his daughter up until adulthood. He had been married to his second wife for many years and she also required financial provision, especially as the deceased had died relatively young and had been the main bread winner in the family. We also looked into the conduct of the daughter and the fact she had received some money from the deceased’s pension trustees. The grant of probate had been obtained four months previous and the time to make a claim was reducing all the time. We were therefore able to assist and provide a policy.
It is not always possible for us to assist where close family are not inheriting, but in this case we studied all the facts and were able to construct a policy cover which enabled the wife to receive enough inheritance to secure the purchase of a property.”
If you have an Inheritance Act enquiry you wish to discuss, either on a precautionary basis where all close family are being provided for, or where close family are left out, please get in touch and we will see if we can help move the distribution of the estate, forward.
This article was submitted to be published by DUAL Asset as part of their advertising agreement with Today’s Wills and Probate. The views expressed in this article are those of the submitter and not those of Today’s Wills and Probate.
