Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Disposition definition

What does Disposition mean? In practice, a disposition is any transaction by which a person transfers or creates an interest in property, rather than merely handing over possession. It covers transfers of legal or equitable estates and rights by sale, gift, mortgage or charge, lease, assignment, grant, release or surrender, and can be inter vivos or testamentary (for example, a will is a testamentary disposition). Across the UK and Ireland, the term appears in legislation and case law and is used descriptively across property, trusts and corporate transactions. In England and Wales and Northern Ireland, land registration legislation refers to registrable dispositions such as...

Challenging inter vivos dispositions affecting estates: capacity, undue influence, deathbed gifts, joint assets/resulting trusts, unconscionable bargains, attorneys/deputies, and PR obligations in England and Wales

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Practice notes

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The nature of Disputes as to lifetime Dispositions

Where an estate proves to be less than expected, Personal representatives (PRs) and beneficiaries frequently raise questions and concerns about transactions the deceased undertook while alive. These may encompass outright gifts, asset disposals apparently at an undervalue, Loans on favourable terms, sole assets placed into joint names, and deathbed gifts. If an attorney or deputy managed the deceased’s affairs, enquiries may need to focus on their conduct as well.

There are several grounds on which a lifetime disposition can be contested. Allegations may include:

the deceased lacked capacity (including potential abuse by an attorney or deputy)
the deceased was subjected to undue influence, and
the criteria for a valid deathbed gift (donatio mortis causa) were not satisfied

The test for capacity to make lifetime gifts and the burden of proof

The common law test for mental capacity to make a lifetime gift is found in Re Beaney, and is characterised as an ability to understand rather than actual understanding: ‘…the question in...

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Emma Holland

Stewarts Law

Emma assists beneficiaries, trustees, and other fiduciaries with trust disputes both onshore and in numerous offshore jurisdictions. Emma also specialises in probate disputes, and disputes overseen by the Court of Protection. Emma has been recognised as a Next Generation Lawyer (Legal 500 2018) and as a Top 35 Under 35 private client practitioner (eprivateclient 2016). Notable examples of work include advising (often alongside foreign law counsel): - discretionary beneficiaries of Bermudian trusts holding a construction business on family corporate governance, applications for approval of restructuring proposals and contentious tax. A Public Trustee v Cooper hearing took place in 2017 (Re X,Y,Z Trusts [2017] Sc (Bda) III Civ). - a beneficiary opposed to a trustee's proposal to sell a key trust asset, involving a jurisdiction challenge in Jersey (Representation of G Trustees Limited [2017] JRC 162A) and a trustee removal application in Bermuda (In the Matter of the E Trust [2017] SC...

Web page updated on 29/05/2026

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