Following a three-day trial at the High Court, the case of Crew v Oakley [2024] has highlighted the importance of planning early for the future of your estate.
Background: Crew v Oakley [2024]:
This case concerned the late Carry Keats who destroyed her Will shortly before her death.
Following a breakdown in relationship between Carry and her cousins, Carry called her solicitor stating that she wanted to change her existing Will to eliminate their benefit. Carry's solicitor visited her in the hospital where Carry sought to destroy her Will. The solicitor advised that destroying her existing Will would render it as revoked and would therefore retract the gift to her cousins. However, she advised that revocation would leave her intestate and by virtue of the intestacy rules, her sister would inherit her estate in full.
Carry then proceeded to tear up her Will as an act of revoking it. In her weakened condition, Carry could not complete the task of tearing the document in full and prompted the solicitor to assist her in completing this act.
Carry’s solicitor then began to take instruction on a making a new Will when Carry suddenly lost consciousness and was unable to continue.
Carry then passed away with no valid Will in place.
The cousins who had been disinherited then took legal action to challenge this outcome.
Key issues for the court to consider:
- Was the Will sufficiently destroyed to amount to revocation? and
- Did Carry have the requisite mental capacity to destroy her Will?
If the revocation of Carry’s Will was not valid, her cousins would inherit her estate against her final wishes.
Court considerations:
Throughout court proceedings, expert evidence was submitted by the cousins to counter that of the solicitor to discredit her opinion that Carry had capacity at the time of tearing her Will.
The solicitor had recorded her advice to Carry on how to revoke a Will and the consequences of this in contemporaneous attendance notes. In these notes, she gave proficient insight into the mentality of Carry during that meeting and those that preceded it.
The Judge did not rebuke the expert evidence but did find that the solicitor's attendance notes were so convincing that it was clear Carry had met the test for mental capacity as set out in the Banks v Goodfellow test. The judge noted that Carry was in 'a sufficiently lucid interval during which the revocation took place'.
This meant that Carry had capacity to revoke her will, had the intention to revoke her will and did so by tearing it in half.
Key points that emerge from this case:
Seeking the advice and assistance of a professional in relation to your estate and wishes, can be the difference between your estate going to those you wish to benefit or falling into the hands of those you did not.
A professionally drafted Will can help you meet all the legal requirements of valid Will, reducing the risk of it being challenged or deemed invalid, particularly in cases when capacity of the testator is called into question.
We advise anyone to review their Will when there is a change in family dynamics or a significant life event.
As part of our comprehensive service Will writing service, Glanvilles can provide you with the peace of mind that your Will is legally sound, and robust against claims and scrutiny.
Need help and guidance with your Will? Contact our team of highly experienced Private Client Solicitors today - 01329 282841
Article by Senior Associate, Erin Hunt and Solicitor, Sapphire Pugh.
The contents of this article are intended for general information purposes only and shall not be deemed to be, or constitute, legal advice, and should not be relied upon as advice. We cannot accept responsibility for any loss as a result of acts or omissions taken in respect of this article. All content was correct at the time of publishing. Legal advice should always be sought in relation to specific circumstances.