If you’ve been excluded from a Will then then these are your legal options
When someone has been wrongly or unfairly excluded from a Will then their options may include challenging the legal validity of the Will, making a claim under the Inheritance Act, or pursuing a proprietary estoppel action.
Challenging the legal validity of a Will
If you have concerns about the legal validity of a Will, there are a number of grounds upon which a Will can be challenged. These include the following circumstances:
- where the Will does not comply with proper legal formalities (for example it was not signed, or was not signed in the presence of two witnesses);
- where the Will was forged;
- where the deceased lacked mental capacity to make the Will;
- where the deceased was unduly influenced;
- where the deceased did not ‘know and approve’ the Will; and
- where the deceased’s mind was poisoned to execute the Will in the way that they did.
To make a validity challenge you would need to be a beneficiary under a previous Will (or stand to gain under the intestacy rules) in order for the court to hear your claim.
Many cases are resolved out of court, but if the case went to court then the effect of a successful challenge is likely to be the Will being declared invalid and any earlier valid Will being admitted to probate instead.
You can read more about challenging the validity of a Will here.
Making an Inheritance Act claim
Another option when you have been excluded from a Will is to bring a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. The Inheritance Act empowers a person to make a claim where a Will (or intestacy) results in them being left without ‘reasonable financial provision’. This could be where they have been left out of the Will entirely or where they have been left less than they require.
Only those who fall into a specific category under the Act can make a claim. They are:
- A spouse or civil partner of the deceased;
- The former spouse or civil partner of the deceased (as long as they have not remarried);
- A person who, for the two years before death, was living with the deceased as if they were a spouse or civil partner;
- A child of the deceased;
- A person who was treated as a ‘child of the family’ of the deceased; and
- Any other person was being maintained, partly or wholly, by the deceased immediately before their death.
If a successful claim is brought under the Inheritance Act the court may make various awards, including a lump sum, periodic payments, a lifetime right to live in a property, or transferring a property.
You can read more about making an Inheritance Act claim here.
Bringing a proprietary estoppel action
This is worth considering where you have been excluded from a Will after a promise had been made to you by the deceased.
To make a proprietary estoppel claim, you will need to show the following:
1. A promise, representation or assurance has been made.
2. You have relied on that promise to your detriment.
3. It will be unfair or unjust for the promise not to be honoured.
We often pursue proprietary estoppel claims in tandem with an action under the Inheritance Act.
You can read more about making a promissory estoppel claim here.