Fraudulent Calumny: Poisoning a Testator's Mind

The recent case of Whittle v Whittle  indicates that poisoning a potential testator’s mind against another beneficiary by casting dishonest aspersions upon his or her character, where the person making the aspersions either knows them to be untrue or does not care whether or not they are true, will not work if that other beneficiary can prove to the court that such is what occurred.

In this case, the Claimant’s evidence was that the First Defendant had falsely represented to his father (the Deceased) that the Claimant, who was the First Defendant’s brother, had stolen money from the Claimant’s mother-in-law and was “a violent man who assaulted women”. The First Defendant also told a lawyer for the Deceased that the Claimant and his wife were “psychopaths and criminals” who had “done some terrible things to Julie Whittle’s mother”. These latter comments were made just before the Deceased made his Will. The First Defendant also suggested that the Claimant’s wife was or had been a prostitute.

At Paragraph 6 of his Will (which essentially left his residuary estate to the First and Second Defendant in equal shares, other than leaving the Claimant his cars and the contents of his sheds and garages, which were of questionable value when considered against the costs of clearing out those sheds and garages), the Deceased said that he and the Claimant had “become estranged”. The lawyer’s file note of the meeting with the Deceased did not say anything further about this, and it is not suggested that the Deceased explained the reasons for this “estrangement”. The Claimant’s evidence in the case was that there was not estrangement between them.

It is important to note that had the First Defendant been able to show that she truly believed the allegations/aspersions she made, then their objective truth would not have mattered, and the Will would not have been liable to be set aside for fraudulent calumny.

If you are concerned that a Testator has been influenced in an improper way to leave their Will in a way different to that they otherwise would have done, please contact our Liam Owen or email contentiousprobate@georgegreen.co.uk.