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.”
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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
“Unmarried couples who live together for five years will automatically take their partner’s entire estate if they die without a will, under proposals from the Government’s law advisers.”
Daily Telegraph, 14th December 2011
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“Millionaire businessman George Wharton’s three daughters have lost out on a share of his £4 million fortune after his deathbed marriage to his former mistress left ‘a family at war with itself.’ ”
Daily Telegraph, 8th December 2011
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“A 72-year-old ‘toy boy’ faces losing his home after a judge ruled that he must pay back money given to him by his long-term partner before she died, plus a hefty legal bill, because they were not married.”
Daily Telegraph, 4th November 2011
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“Developments in the online legal services market provide lucrative opportunities for lawyers willing to break down barriers.”
The Guardian, 19th August 2011
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Philippa Cunniff, family law partner at Turcan Connell, has some distinctly unromantic but potentially invaluable advice.”
The Guardian, 4th August 2011
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Thousands of people are being ripped off by companies providing unregulated services such as will writing, claims the first Legal Ombudsman.”
BBC News, 18th July 2011
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Shovelar and others v Lane and others [2011] EWCA Civ 802; [2011] WLR (D) 224
“The question of the effect of mutual wills upon the distribution of an estate under a later will which was admitted to probate was a matter for the Chancery Division, applying the law of trusts, and it was not a matter of probate law and practice. Accordingly, the unsuccessful executors in an action of that nature were not entitled to rely upon the ‘probate rule’ so as to justify departure from the usual costs rule.”
WLR Daily, 12th July2011
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
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