Henrietta Mason & Paola Fudakowska provide an update on disputed probate cases
In King v Dubrey and others [2014] EWHC 2083 (Ch) the deceased made a will in 1998 leaving £19,000 in legacies to friends and relatives, and her residuary estate to a number of animal charities. The main asset in her estate was a property in Hertfordshire, worth approximately £350,000 at the time of trial, into which her nephew, Mr King, moved to look after her in 2007.
On 19 November 2010, 4 February 2011 and 24 March 2011, the deceased prepared various documents to the effect that King should have the property when she died. None of the documents constituted a valid will in law. King stated that, in around late 2010/early 2011, the deceased presented him with the deeds to the property and said to him: “This will be yours when I go.” King claimed to have taken the deeds and put them into his wardrobe.
King claimed that the deceased, who died on 10 April 2011, had
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