• March 29, 2024
 Where there’s a Will there’s a way

Where there’s a Will there’s a way

Kings Court Trust (KCT) recently reported on a case of theirs, whereby a will was purposely destroyed by a family member — which raises interesting questions surrounding those particular circumstances. As a wills and probate professional, you may well be aware of or have even dealt with such a situation yourself.

Within the reporting, the KCT focused on the Rules of Intestacy and how it affected the final outcome of this particular case.

In 1986, the deceased had a will prepared. Fourteen years later and because of prevailing circumstances, the will writer was requested to return the original will as well as forwarding copies of the same to the now deceased’s named executors. KCT’s client, being the deceased’s daughter, was the sole beneficiary in the will. The daughter of the deceased allegedly destroyed the original will by setting fire to it, following her mother’s instructions.

To quote: “We dealt with an interesting case recently where a will was elaborately set on fire during an exceptionally stressful time for a private client of the firm. We were able to provide advice on the situation and ensure that the results were as directed by the family. Emotions ran high as the mother, at the time was extremely ill and the daughter did not accept the possibility that her mother might die. The daughter subsequently destroyed the offending will by setting fire to it in the kitchen sink, at the deceased’s direction.”

No one could predict how they would react in such a stressful situation. It was therefore up to the firm to set out administering the estate on behalf of the family. As the Probate Registry rejected their application, they were forced to administer the estate using Rules of Intestacy. The Probate Registry’s explanation was that they were not satisfied the will was destroyed under undue influence. Under these circumstances, is this a surprising outcome, or are you in agreement with the Probate Registry in this instance?

As the death occurred prior to 1st October 2014, this meant the old rules of intestacy applied. Kings Court Trust concluded that there was no surviving spouse and confirmed this with a family tree check; establishing that the daughter was indeed the only child of the deceased and therefore the sole beneficiary. In this particular case the Rules of Intestacy did not affect the final outcome. Do you agree with the Probate Registry, as it could not be proven the will was destroyed as claimed? What would you have advised? And do you agree that it was the right decision to follow the Rules of Intestacy?

Please leave a comment below.

 

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