A recent High Court case has ruled that the Court of Protection had no jurisdiction to rule on the invalidity of a will when the person was alive. Therefore an application for summary judgment or a strike out in a probate claim was refused.
A judgment was handed down by the Court of Appeal recently considering the criteria required when applying to seek permission to re-open an appeal or a permission to appeal application. A panel of two Lord Justices of Appeal refused, after an oral hearing, to re-open a permission to appeal application. The respondents did not appear but some had sent in short written representations objecting to the application to re-open the permission to appeal decision.
It is interesting to note that the Lord Justice of Appeal, who originally refused the permission to appeal application on paper, had recused himself for another Lord Justice to order at an oral hearing that the application to re-open be adjourned to a further oral hearing before a two-judge court.
Therefore, in total, four Court of Appeal judges considered the case.
Business confidence is very poor sparking a large increase in settlement agreements high street solicitors are reporting in conditions not witnessed since the pandemic. London appears to be being hit heavily, notably east London, and those under 35. The hospitality and retail sectors are particularly affected.
The last three months of last year saw a phenomenal increase in court cases brought to block the administration of family estates. This process is known as applying for a caveat to stop or delay a grant of probate necessary for the distribution of a persons assets e.g. for obtaining funds from a bank, the sale of a property or investments.
Mixed marriages, that where people with children have divorced and remarried, have led to a large increase in inheritance disputes. This is largely due to intestacy and assets passing to the spouse. The need for a professionally clearly drafted will has thus been highlighted to avoid probate litigation and the need for raising caveats in Court.