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08 February 2021
Issue: 7920 / Categories: Legal News , Wills & Probate
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Finders International: the missing inheritance

About 11% of British adults have experienced wrongly distributed inheritance, either personally or through a member of their family, research has found
Some 255 of 2,334 adults polled by YouGov had personal or family experience of an inheritance being sent to the wrong recipient, by accident or for some other reason. A further 77 people had a close friend who had experienced this. The research, conducted in January, was commissioned by probate research firm Finders International, which reunites next-of-kin with inheritance they did not know was due when someone dies intestate.

Family feuds were commonplace, with 15% saying they were likely to consider cutting out siblings from their will, 10% disinheriting parents, 5% leaving out their partner and 5% disinheriting their own children.

Three-fifths of adults didn’t have a valid will and three-quarters knew little about the effect of dying intestate. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused one quarter more British adults to consider making a will in the past year than in previous years.

The survey also highlighted how families have become increasingly international.

Geoffrey Odds, chair of the International Association of Professional Probate Researchers, said: ‘From an international perspective, this research went on to uncover that more than a quarter of younger adults had at least one foreign born grandparent, compared to just 10% per cent of over-50s. 

‘This is a consequence of post-World War Two immigration, and ease of travel and transport over the past seven decades.’

Issue: 7920 / Categories: Legal News , Wills & Probate
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Chair of the Association of Pension Lawyers joins as partner

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Group names Shakespeare Martineau partner head of Sheffield office

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Four legal directors promoted to partner across UK offices

NEWS

The abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC

Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
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