A Practitioner's Guide to Inheritance Act Claims

‘A Practitioner’s Guide to Inheritance Act Claims’ (previously Inheritance Act Claims) provides a clear, comprehensive, easily accessible and practical guide to the provisions of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 as amended.

This book sets out in detail the background to the legislation, pre-conditions and time limits for making a claim, categories of those who are entitled to make a claim, and grounds on which a claim may be made. It looks at the matters to which the court must have regard in deciding a claim and the court’s powers to make orders (including the powers of the court in respect of dispositions intended to defeat a claim), the assets out of which financial provision under the Act may be made and the position of personal representatives and trustees.

The new edition includes coverage of the important case of Ilott v The Blue Cross and others and looks at the effect of the Supreme Court’s first decision under the Act on the meaning of reasonable financial provisions, testamentary freedom, the position of charities as beneficiaries, the factors that are relevant to the exercise of judicial discretion when deciding what if any award should be made for a claimant and issues relating to grounds of appeal.

This new edition also deals with changes brought about by the Civil Partnership Act 2004; the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013; the Presumption of Deaths Act 2013; the Inheritance and Trustees' Powers Act 2014 and the consequential amendments made to the Civil Procedure Rules Part 57 and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008.

Other matters covered in the book include:

• case law on domicile and proof of foreign marriages;
• the extension of the meaning of the child of the family as a consequence of the Inheritance and Trustees' Powers Act 2014;
• the issue of assumption of responsibility and financial contribution;
• forfeiture rule;
• mutual wills, proprietary estoppel and constructive trusts, especially in relation to the interests of cohabitants;
• property held jointly;
• application to set aside orders on the ground of non-disclosure;
• procedure for making online applications for a copy of a death certificate and for a standing search;
• jurisdiction to make orders against foreign property;
• EU succession Regulation 650/2012 in so far as it may be relevant.

The Appendices includes a range of sample forms and precedents and the text of the Act and the relevant provisions of the CPR.