“Section 50 of the Administration of Justice Act 1985, which contained a power to replace or remove personal representatives, applied to a person named as an executor in a will but who had not been granted probate.”
WLR Daily, 18th May 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“The government has today rejected the Legal Services Board’s (LSB) recommendation that will-writing become a reserved legal activity.”
Legal Futures, 14th May 2013
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
“Sidney Ross reports on two recent probate cases and highlights how they interpret existing case law. In Joshi and others v Mahida [2013] EWHC 486 (Ch) the judge followed Re Segelman in answering three questions to determine the testator’s intentions. Sidney also discusses whether ‘the rule of double portions’ applies in Kloosman v Aylen and others [2013] EWHC 435 (Ch).”
Full story (PDF)
11 Stone Buildings, March 2013
Source: www.11sb.com
“A ‘violent’ man who coerced his mother into changing her will to leave him nearly all of her £350,000 fortune is facing a £110,000 legal bill after a judge set aside the will because of his ‘forceful’ nature.”
Daily Telegraph, 12th March 2013
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“The Legal Services Board is today [13 February] recommending to the Lord Chancellor that will writing activities should be made subject to regulation, so that the significant risks consumers currently face when using these critical services is reduced.”
Full story (PDF)
Legal Services Board, 13th February 2013
Source: www.legalservicesboard.org.uk
“The son of a baronet embroiled in a bitter legal dispute with his father over the sale of the family’s £2 million estate was yesterday awarded just £5.60 a year by the High Court.”
Daily Telegraph, 21st November 2012
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“Will-writing, estate administration and probate should only be carried out by regulated legal professionals to give greater protection to consumers, the Legal Services Board has proposed.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 27th September 2012
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
Hughes and others v Bourne and others [2012] EWHC 2232 (Ch); [2012] WLR (D) 242
“The personal representatives’ power of appropriation under section 41(1) of the Administration of Estates Act 1925 was not confined to transactions of a contractual or quasi-contractual nature.”
WLR Daily, 27th July 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“The Law Society today backed plans to extend the list of reserved activities to include will-writing and estate administration.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 16th July 2012
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“A carer who ‘brutally’ beat an elderly man to death in a hammer attack after he changed his will to leave her a £340,000 legacy has been convicted of murder.”
The Guardian, 13th July 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“‘Living wills’ that stipulate exactly how a person wants to die should be drawn up with absolute clarity, a judge has ruled after concluding a 67-year-old man with motor neurone disease had made a ‘valid decision’ to refuse treatment.”
Daily Telegraph, 1st May 2012
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“The LSB is today announcing proposals to deliver greater protection to consumers of the legal services of will-writing and estate administration. These would see the services brought within the scope of legal services regulation, regardless of who provides them.”
Full story (PDF)
Legal Services Board, 23rd April 2012
Source: www.legalservicesboard.org.uk
“All firms offering will writing and estate administration should be regulated to protect consumers from falling victim to fraudsters and cowboy companies offering badly drafted documents, according to latest research.”
The Guardian, 23rd April 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Where a corporation had been removed from the register of charities but had not been struck off and dissolved until after the death of the testatrix, a gift made in her will took effect notwithstanding that the corporation had ceased to exist.”
WLR Daily, 16th March 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“The Legal Services Board (LSB) is today [15 March] publishing two new pieces of research into probate and estate administration.”
Legal Services Board, 15th March 2012
Source: www.legalservicesboard.org.uk
“A carer who looked after the composer of the music for the Bridge On the River Kwai has won a High Court battle over his final work.”
BBC News, 8th March 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“A simple mix-up when a husband and wife signed mirror wills 13 years ago means they have no value in law, the Court of Appeal ruled today. The ruling disinherits the couple’s intended heir and has left lawyers calling for a more flexible approach to probate law.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 2nd February 2012
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“A judge has called for a change in the law on deathbed wills after an eight-year legal wrangle over whether a dying man’s sister offered him a ‘steadying hand’ as he signed all his possessions over to her.”
Daily Telegraph, 31st January 2012
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“The Law Commission is making recommendations today to bring inheritance law into line with the needs and expectations of modern families, and simplify the law to help the bereaved deal with the property of a deceased family member.”
Law Commission, 14th December 2011
Source: www.justice.gov.uk
