Want of knowledge and approval meaning

Testamentary capacity Oliver v Oliver [2024] EWHC 2289 (Ch) – News Analysis: Will overturned for want of testamentary capacity and undue influence (Oliver v Oliver). This judgment is an uncommon instance of a successful attack on a professionally drafted Will for both incapacity and coercion, even where the court had a recording of the testator’s instructions and the GP had issued a supporting certificate. Despite those formalities, the court concluded the Will should be set aside on both grounds. Alexandra Rogers, managing associate at Foot Anstey LLP. Leonard v Leonard (by her litigation friend Sharon Thompsett) [2024] EWHC 321 (Ch) – News Analysis: High Court offers guidance on the test for testamentary capacity (Leonard v Leonard). The High Court examines and clarifies Banks v Goodfellow, and underscores the continuing importance of expert evidence in capacity disputes. It underscores how clinical and legal evaluations interact closely, effectively. George Vare, barrister at Serle Court Chambers. Wilkinson v Hicken [2023] EWHC 1983 (Ch) – News Analysis: Personality disorders...

In this issue: Probate Trusts Court of Protection Elderly and vulnerable clients UK taxes for Private Client Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance Contentious trusts and estates Pensions, insurance and tax efficient investments Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland International Question of the week Additional Private Client updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts LexTalk®Private Client: a Lexis+® community New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Latest Q&A Useful information Probate High Court upholds the will and dismisses the counterclaim due to laches and lack of merit (Stephenson (as Executors and Beneficiaries of the estate of Malcom Roocroft (deceased)) v Daley) The Chancery Division granted the claimants probate in solemn form of the deceased’s final will, and rejected the defendants’ counterclaim which aimed to set the will aside for want of knowledge and approval. The court concluded the deceased understood and endorsed the...

In this issue: Wills Court of Protection UK taxes for Private Client HMRC Manuals updates Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance Regulatory compliance for Private Client Contentious trusts and estates Pensions, insurance and tax efficient investments International Question of the week Additional Private Client updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts LexTalk®Private Client: a Lexis+® community New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Latest Q&As Useful information Wills Challenge to Will fails but undue influence on lifetime gifts found (MacDougall v Thomas). The Chancery Division (Property, Trusts & Probate List) upheld Jeanne MacDougall’s 2011 Will; however, it determined that the 2008 dispositions of Peacehaven and Argyle Road were obtained by undue influence and ordered those transfers to be unwound. The claimant, Gary MacDougall, contested the validity of his late mother’s 2011 Will and multiple lifetime transactions, alleging want of testamentary capacity, lack of knowledge...

In this issue: Wills Court of Protection Elderly and vulnerable clients UK taxes for Private Client HMRC Manuals updates Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance Regulatory compliance for Private Client Family businesses and ownership structures Digital assets and cryptoassets Pensions, insurance and tax efficient investments Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland International Question of the week Additional Private Client updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts LexTalk®Private Client: a Lexis+® community New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Wills Will challenge dismissed for lack of evidence (Woolfson v Woolfson) The Chancery Division dismissed the claimant’s case and entered summary judgment for the defendants in probate proceedings concerning her late mother’s estate (Ms Banks). Karen Woolfson contested the validity of her mother’s Will of 11 June 2018 and pursued various remedies, including declarations about rights to property. The central questions were...

The court's power to rectify A claim for rectification is not, strictly speaking, a probate claim, but it falls under that wider category as an extension of a want of knowledge and approval claim where a mistake has arisen in the drafting of a Will. For deaths after 31 December 1982, section 20 of the Administration of Justice Act 1982 (AJA 1982) allows rectification. The court may amend a Will if satisfied it is framed in a way that does not give effect to the testator’s intentions because of: a clerical error; or a failure to comprehend his instructions, and can order changes so the Will achieves those intentions. Despite the affirmative tenor of that provision, this rectification power is discretionary, and the circumstances in which it applies are set out in AJA 1982, ss 20(2)–20(4). Under section 20(2), an application for an order under this section shall not, save with the permission of the court, be made after six months...

Failure of gifts under Will Even where a person dies leaving a validly executed Will, some legacies and testamentary gifts may not take effect. Possible reasons are: uncertainty disclaimer dissolution of marriage or civil partnership disqualification due to: undue influence or fraud forfeiture being an attesting witness the beneficiary having been adopted by a third party, altering their former legal relationship to the testator failure to satisfy a contingency lapse ademption If the residuary estate is insufficient to meet the liabilities, the legacies must be reduced—ie abate—so those liabilities can be discharged. For further detail on ademption, lapse and disclaimer, and on failure of gifts generally, see: Failure of gifts—overview, which links to more in-depth content. Working out beneficiaries’ entitlement to inherit under a Will Once it is confirmed that the Will is the testator’s final testamentary document and validly executed, and...

Before a Will can be admitted to probate, the court must be satisfied that the testator knew and approved its contents at the time of execution. Where testamentary capacity and due execution are established, a prima facie presumption of knowledge and approval arises. Even so, the court may require further affirmative proof, particularly where: the testator has a serious infirmity such as blindness or deafness, or is illiterate there is a mistake or inadvertence in the drafting of the Will the circumstances surrounding the drafting and/or execution create suspicion, eg where the person preparing the Will takes a benefit (Butlin v Barry) The court will not now assume knowledge and approval simply because the Will was read over to a capable testator or its contents were otherwise notified; there is no inflexible rule shutting off further enquiry, especially where fraud is a potential ingredient...