In a very recent case, the High Court refused to consider a widow’s claim for reasonable provision from her late husband’s estate which was made 10 years after the court deadline.

In the case of Sargeant v Sargeant, Joe Sargeant (“Joe”), a farmer from Northampton, left his estate in a discretionary trust to his wife Mary Sargeant (“Mary”), to his daughter Jane and to Jane’s three children. Joe died in 2005 and his estate, which was valued at approximately £3.2 million, included a sizable farm.

Where a discretionary trust is used, the beneficiaries have no secure entitlement to the assets of the trust and it is left up to the trustees to decide how the capital and income is distributed.

Mary complained that the will made by Joe hadn’t made adequate financial provision for her.

In July 2016, and ten years after the probate was obtained in Joe’s estate, Mary made a claim against Joe’s estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (“The Inheritance Act”).

The deadline for making a claim under the Inheritance Act is 6 months from the date of the Grant of Probate but the court has a discretion to allow late claims to proceed in limited circumstances.

Mary contended that the reason for the significant delay in bringing the claim was that she had not understood the provisions of the will.

The Judge in the case commented that the delay in this case was unprecedented and said: “This is not a case in which any material facts have been concealed from Mary at any stage”.

The Judge went on to say that “The reality is that Mary took her own decision to continue to work within the arrangements provided for by the will, rather than to explore whether she had any option available to vary them, in the full knowledge of the financial difficulties she was under, and maintained that decision over a very long period”

Claims relating to will disputes and inheritance disputes are highly complex and specialist advice should be sought at an early stage to ensure that important deadlines are not missed and that your interests are protected.

If you need advice concerning an inheritance dispute or will dispute or if you are in a position where you need to defend a will dispute/inheritance dispute, please do not hesitate to contact our contentious probate team on 01902 424927. Alternatively, you can e-mail us at contentiousprobate@georgegreen.co.uk providing a brief summary of the issues you wish to discuss with us, along with your contact details.