Restaurants are closed for everything except take away services. Supermarkets are struggling to supply staples, but the nation still needs feeding. Most workers will be eating at home rather than in and around the workplace for some time to come. The recipe for feeding the nation has changed with immediate effect, by government order.

We are continuing to see increasing numbers of contentious probate enquiries but what are the practical considerations to think about before embarking on this sort of litigation.

On 4 November 2019 the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) (UT) handed down its judgment, dismissing the appeal made by a trustee in bankruptcy, that the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) had jurisdiction to decide whether the bankrupt held a beneficial interest in a jointly owned property.

Even before the Coronavirus outbreak, you may have wondered “Do I need a Will?” or “I’m too young to write a Will”. Although most people writing Wills in the UK are older than 50, you could write a Will from the age of 18.

The Office for National Statistics reported that in 2020 just under half of all babies in England and Wales were born to unmarried parents. By comparison 5.4% of babies’ parents in 1960 were unmarried. This major societal change has meant that there are more unmarried fathers than ever before who are anxious not to miss out on their children’s lives and want to understand what parental rights they have.

The recent case of PH v Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board [2022] is a helpful reminder that the Court of Protection will only intervene and make a best interests decision where P lacks capacity or there is reason to believe that P lacks the capacity to make these decisions.

A mantra drummed into all embryonic litigators is: ‘do not lose sight of commerciality’. The overriding objective of the Civil Procedure Rules being that the Court should be able ‘to deal with cases justly and at proportionate cost’. This is especially so with regard to claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (the ‘Act’) where the Court is in essence being asked to conduct a balancing exercise to appropriately redistribute an estate in circumstances where a claimant argues that they have not been adequately provided for.

Ernesto Colicci died unexpectedly on 18 January 2021 at the age of 66. Ernesto and his first wife Josephine married in 1982 and set up a business selling ice-cream from vans which grew over time to operating catering outlets in public places. A company was incorporated in 2003 and the business transferred into it. The shares in the business were held equally by Ernesto and Josephine.

In this article, Martin Oliver, Partner in our Contentious Probate team explains the issues surrounding dementia and the problems that can arise for those drafting wills.

Martin Oliver, Partner in our Contentious Probate team, answers the question; is contesting a will ever successful?