Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Litigation friend challenges in Inheritance Act claims: Chancery Division refuses executors’ application to remove mother; claimant’s choice of professional upheld; costs/Beddoe caution (England and Wales)

Published on: 22 June 2018

Published by a LexisNexis Private Client expert

Legal News

Article summary

Keays (by her litigation friend, Keays) v Executors of the late Parkinson [2018] EWHC 1006 (Ch)

What are the practical implications of this case?

Executors ought to refrain from personal, ad hominem critiques of a litigation friend’s fitness to act.
The ruling also underlines that executors should not seek to foist their preferred nominee to supplant the existing litigation friend, even where there was a prior in‑principle consensus to appoint a professional.
Further, in the absence of a Beddoe order, applications of this nature are liable to leave executors and/or beneficiaries personally responsible for both parties’ costs if the application fails, rather than enjoying indemnity from the estate.

What was the background?

In February 2017, Sara Keays, acting as litigation friend for her adult daughter, Flora, issued proceedings in the Chancery Division under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, seeking provision from her late father’s estate. The defendants were the executors of the late Cecil Parkinson, a former cabinet minister in Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet and a life peer who died in 2016. In May 2017, the executors brought an application pursuant...

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