Thousands of families are becoming embroiled in a soaring number of inheritance disputes leading to a record volume of “ruinously expensive” and emotionally gruelling court cases.
As many as 10,000 people in England and Wales are disputing wills every year, according to estimates by specialist solicitors. In 2021-22, 195 disputes went in front of judges, up from 145 in 2017, but these are the tip of the iceberg, with most disputes settled out of court.
The growth is being driven by the passing of the property-rich baby boomer generation, which has increased the financial stakes for descendants; increases in second marriages leading to stepchildren being disinherited; and a rise in dementia leading to more claims that wills were not properly drawn up.
One woman who faced a two-year dispute culminating in a court hearing after her stepmother challenged her father’s will, told the Guardian the process was an “emotional torment”.
The execution of wills by video link during the Covid pandemic could also be leading to greater challenges, lawyers said. They also cited the cost of living crisis as driving children to risk challenges simply because they need the money.
Paul Grimwood, partner in disputed wills, trusts and probate at IBB Law, has experienced a doubling in work over the last three years and described going to trial as “ruinously expensive” for some.
He said the increase in disputes was in part because of greater awareness of the right to challenge wills, partly driven by media coverage of high-profile cases and TV dramas and documentaries, such as Channel 5’s Inheritance Wars: Who Gets the Money?
Grimwood said: “I have never seen a will that says: ‘I would like to give a substantial part of my estate to litigation lawyers,’ but that does come to pass.”
One of the largest firms operating in the area, Irwin Mitchell, has 10 times more staff handling wills, trusts and probates disputes than a decade ago. The size of estates being passed on is growing with HM Revenue and Customs on course to record its highest ever inheritance tax receipts for this financial year: £7.5bn.
Under the 1975 Inheritance Act, current and former spouses and civil partners, long-term cohabitees living like spouses or civil partners, children, people who were treated by the deceased as a child of the family, and anyone maintained financially by the deceased, can all challenge a will. They must show that the way the estate is divided does not make “reasonable financial provision” for them. The judge can weigh the financial resources and needs of those left out of the will and those included in it, mental and physical disabilities, the size of the estate and even the conduct of the applicant.
Holly McIntosh from Surrey said she challenged her stepmother’s bid to claim all of her husband’s assets despite a will that appeared to share them equally with her two stepdaughters.
The will appeared to leave his house to his two adult daughters and his investments to his second wife – a rough split of £600,000 each. But it contained contradictions and his second wife claimed she had not been adequately provided for.
After two years of legal wrangling, the second wife was awarded a third of the house as well, but it was a pyrrhic victory. After £400,000 in legal costs, the increase in her wealth was almost wiped out.
“She was my best friend [when I was younger],” McIntosh said. “We don’t speak at all now … Is it really worth breaking up your family for a bit more money?”
Heather Roberts, contentious probate and professional negligence partner at Bexley Beaumont Limited, who acted for McIntosh, said: “Most clients feel a sense of relief once a settlement is reached, as they can then start to grieve.”
John Chandler, who recently challenged a will, told the Guardian it was “very, very scary”. He believed his long-term business partner and close friend had intended to leave him a quarter of their business, but he discovered the will differed so he would potentially only get an eighth – a £1m difference.
When he won, mainly on the grounds of failures by the drafting solicitor, he said: “It was as if a tonne weight off my shoulders.” Defeat would have meant a legal bill of several hundred thousand pounds.
“It is really gruelling for our clients,” said Alison Parry, head of wills and trusts disputes at JMW Solicitors in Manchester, which is dealing with 150 inquiries a month – a fivefold increase on five years ago.
“Families are becoming much more complex as standard,” said Candy Stockton, partner in wills, estates and trusts disputes at Irwin Mitchell. “There are more second marriages, more cohabiting, blended families and non-traditional relationships.”
Amid increasing numbers of people living with dementia, she said family members were also increasingly challenging the validity of wills citing cognitive decline in the willmaker. She said that capacity assessments made when the will was drawn up could head off such disputes, but these did not happen with many low-cost will-writing services.
Some names have been changed at the request of the families involved.
