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04 August 2017 / Henrietta Mason , Paola Fudakowska
Issue: 7757 / Categories: Features , Wills & Probate
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Words v intentions

​Paola Fudakowska & Henrietta Mason return with a wills & probate update

  • Application for revocation for a grant of letters of administration.
  • Whether wording in will is sufficient to exclude the operation of s 33 of the Wills Act 1837.

Donna-Lynne Maria Morris v Sylvester Hazelwood Browne, Carol Hazelwood-Morris and Mr Evans [2017] EWHC 631 (Ch) deals with an application for revocation for a grant of letters of administration and an account in light of the existence of a will.

Ethelyn Violet Morris died on 22 March 2012. She had five children, namely the Claimant, the three Defendants and a further son, Colin, who was not a party. The Defendants obtained letters of administration on their mother’s purported intestacy on 2 October 2013 and sold her property for £920,000 in February 2014.

The Claimant’s solicitors wrote to the Defendants in February 2015 saying they understood that the Defendants had been aware of the existence of the deceased’s will, enclosing a copy of the original. The solicitors made clear that under the will, the Claimant

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London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

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NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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