Record claim on husband's estate

The High Court has upheld a widow’s right to bring a claim against her husband’s estate more than 26 years after grant of probate

The judgment, handed down this week, Thakare v Bhusate [2020] EWHC 52 (Ch), sets a new landmark in the length of time Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 claims can be brought after death. The previous record of six years was set in Stock v Brown [1994] 1 FLR 840. Normally, claims for reasonable financial provision must be brought within six months of the grant of probate.

Mr and Mrs Bhusate married in India in 1979 when he was 61, twice previously married with five children, and she was 28 and spoke little English. They lived in London and had one child before he died intestate in 1990. The matrimonial home failed to sell, and Mrs Bhusate continues to live there with her son.

Chief Master Marsh granted Mrs Bhusate permission to bring a claim out of time (nearly 25 years after grant of probate), partly on the basis her acrimonious relationship with her stepchildren had obstructed the sale of the house.

The stepchildren appealed, arguing reasonable financial provision had already been made for Mrs Bhusate at the time of Mr Bhusate’s death, and it was her own ‘fault’ that she lost this entitlement. Dismissing the appeal, however, Mr Edwin Johnson QC concluded it was inappropriate to interfere with the Chief Master’s decision. Moreover, he said the ‘administration of the estate was left in limbo’ due to the stepchildren’s lack of co-operation.

Paul Hewitt, partner at Withers, who acted for Mrs Bhusate, said: ‘Despite the eye-catching amount of time which has elapsed since her husband's death, the facts in Mrs Bhusate's case are very specific.’