{"id":21169,"date":"2021-06-08T14:31:27","date_gmt":"2021-06-08T14:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smh.group\/?p=21169"},"modified":"2021-06-08T14:31:27","modified_gmt":"2021-06-08T14:31:27","slug":"unhappy-families-challenging-inheritance-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/unhappy-families-challenging-inheritance-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Unhappy families \u2013 challenging inheritance issues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>The outcome of a recent&nbsp;High Court case&nbsp;is a warning for anyone challenging a will.&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As inheritances&nbsp;become&nbsp;more valuable,&nbsp;the number of&nbsp;disputes about wills have increased. Court cases rose by almost 50% to 188 in 2019 compared to the previous year according to the latest Ministry of Justice figures.&nbsp;Many more are settled or abandoned&nbsp;along the way. The cases which do reach the High Court&nbsp;tend&nbsp;to be those involving the&nbsp;\u2018right\u2019&nbsp;mix of&nbsp;large&nbsp;sums and&nbsp;elevated emotions. An example that&nbsp;appeared in April&nbsp;2021&nbsp;is&nbsp;<em>Miles v Shearer<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tony Shearer died in October 2017, leaving nearly&nbsp;all&nbsp;of an estate&nbsp;worth&nbsp;about \u00a32.2 million to his second wife, Pamela. His two daughters,&nbsp;Juliet and Lauretta,&nbsp;born in the early 1980s to his first wife,&nbsp;received nothing.&nbsp;This prompted them to make a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lauretta wanted a\u00a0payment from her father\u2019s estate to cover:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The cost of a home, so that she could&nbsp;move out of her mother\u2019s&nbsp;property;&nbsp;<\/li><li>Fees for&nbsp;training as a dog&nbsp;behaviourist,&nbsp;to enable her&nbsp;to&nbsp;support herself; and&nbsp;<\/li><li>The expenses of caring&nbsp;for her autistic daughter.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Juliet sought funds to:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Reduce her mortgage by about \u00a3245,000, so that it would become affordable for her on a repayment basis: and&nbsp;<\/li><li>Buy out her ex-husband\u2019s share of a flat in which she was living \u2013 about another \u00a3100,000.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2008, shortly after his divorce,&nbsp;Tony&nbsp;gave&nbsp;\u00a3177,000 to Juliet and \u00a3185,000 to Lauretta. At the time he made&nbsp;clear there would be no further financial&nbsp;support to his daughters.&nbsp;This was&nbsp;an important factor in the case&nbsp;as it&nbsp;reinforced the decisions Tony made in&nbsp;the creation of his will.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The judge rejected the claims of both daughters, stating that neither had established a need for maintenance to be funded from their father\u2019s estate.&nbsp;Two lessons can be drawn from the case:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Make your intentions clear in advance to try to reduce potential disappointment and the likelihood of legal action when a will is finally read.\u00a0<\/li><li>Tony\u2019s will\u00a0achieved\u00a0what he wanted to happen.\u00a0Had he left matters to English intestacy laws, Pamela would have received only \u00a3125,000 and personal chattels outright, with Juliet and Lauretta immediately\u00a0jointly\u00a0receiving half the residue (less about \u00a3285,000 of inheritance tax).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If you find yourself in similar circumstances, our <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/wills-probate\/\">Wills &amp; Probate<\/a><\/span><\/strong> team are here to help on <strong>0114 266 4432<\/strong> or <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"mailto:wills@smhca.co.uk\">wills@smhca.co.uk<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/smh-are-you-married.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Where will your assets go if you die without a Will?<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The outcome of a recent High Court case is a warning for anyone challenging a will.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16757,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[633,726,63],"class_list":["post-21169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wills-probate","tag-inheritance","tag-will","tag-wills-probate"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - 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