Court Awards Daughter Share of Mother's Estate

A landmark Court Ruling has decided that a 54 year old woman was entitled to
reasonable provision from her Mothers Estate despite the fact that her mother had expressly stated in her Will that she did not want her daughter to receive a penny.

The mother had left her £500,000 estate to Animal Charities when she died in 2004.  She expressly stated that she had not left any amount to her daughter and wrote a letter to her Lawyers stating that she could see no reason why her daughter should benefit in any way from her estate.  She also instructed her Executors to fight any claim by her daughter to obtain a share of her estate.

The Court ruled that the daughter was entitled to make a claim under the 1975 Inheritance Act to “reasonable” provision from her mother’s estate. The Act is usually relied upon to make claims for young children  on the grounds of dependency. In this case the Court decided that the adult child should be entitled to make a claim under the Act on the grounds that her mother’s Will did not reasonably provide for her daughter who was living on benefits.

The decision of the Court of Appeal will make it easier for adult children to challenge their parents’ Wills if they are excluded as beneficiaries, or if they believe that the will does not make reasonable provision for them . 

The Court also made it clear that they are prepared to intervene to ensure that an adult child  receives  a share of their parents’ estate even though the parent has expressly stated that they do not wish their children to benefit from  their estate.

In this case the Court looked at the daughter’s circumstances and decided that if she did not receive a share of her mother’s estate then she would face a life of poverty because she was on benefits and could not afford to go on holiday, or buy clothes for her children.

The ruling has considerable implications for parents who are drafting their Wills and for their legal advisors. The mother had no specific connection with the charities and it has been suggested that in future it would be necessary for people who are intending to leave money to charities to have some form of existing connection to the charity concerned.

Although the case has only just been decided in the Court of Appeal it has immediate consequences for people who are considering making their Wills and who are intending to leave monies to charities that would otherwise go to their children.

It is possible that the charities may appeal the decision to the Supreme Court but in the meantime it is clear that this case sets a precedent that affects the right of people to decide who they wish to leave their money to in their Will.