Probate & Trust Litigation
Services include:
- Caveats lodged or challenged at the Probate Registry, including issuing Warnings, and entering appearances.
- Contesting a will under the Wills Act 1837, applying the tests in Banks v Goodfellow [1869-70] and Vaughan v Vaughan [2005] on a number of grounds including: Validity, forgery, fraudulent wills, lack of capacity, lack of knowledge, undue influence, coercion, rectification.
- Contentious Probate: interpretation of terms of a will, mismanagement by an executor of the estate, disagreements between beneficiaries.
- Professional negligence arising against the will writer.
- Bringing or defending:
- an Inheritance Act claim.
- a claim under Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.
- claims for breach of trust.
- Establishing secret trusts.
- Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996
Be aware of time limitations, most claims of which must be brought within 6 months from the date of granting of probate, or else they are time-barred.