Staking a claim: contesting a will

In brief

• Re H (deceased) SH v NH and another [2020] EWHC 1134 (Fam): a 1975 Act claim against an estate for reasonable financial provision.

In Re H (deceased) SH v NH and another [2020] EWHC 1134 (Fam), [2020] All ER (D) 86 (May) the claimant (C) made a 1975 Act claim against the estate of her late father (F) (who died in 2016) for reasonable financial provision. F’s estate was calculated at £554,000, being F’s half share of the property owned jointly with his wife (£350,000), a half share in joint accounts with his wife (£63,000) and the executor’s account (£141,000).

The defendants were C’s mother (D1) and C’s brother (D2), as executor of his late father’s estate.

• C and D2 were the only children of the marriage and D1 was the sole beneficiary of F’s estate.
• D1 was aged 80, had extensive health problems, was profoundly deaf, lived in a care home and was worried