Contested wills, trusts & estates

Overview

We advise across the whole range of estate and inheritance disputes and claims regarding wills, trust and estates. We act for clients across England and Wales as well as internationally. We’re on hand to help you whether you’re:

contesting a will;
facing a will dispute;
concerned about how a trust is being run;
a trustee faced with a possible dispute;
an executor or beneficiary involved in a contentious probate dispute;
involved in an inheritance dispute;
facing a dispute in the Court of Protection or involving the Office of the Public Guardian; or
making a claim for financial provision under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.

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Key contact

Roman Kubiak TEP

Head of Contested Wills, Trusts and Estates

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Roman is a partner and head of the contested wills, trusts and estates team. He advises across the whole spectrum of private client litigation, with a particular focus on high value, complex and cross-border disputes including: trust disputes, breach of trust claims and applications to remove trustees; will disputes, particularly those with an international element; claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975; and claims for equitable relief under proprietary estoppel, constructive trusts and resulting trusts.

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Accreditations

Top ranked in Legal 500 and Chambers
Members of ACTAPS (Association of Contentious Trust and Probate Specialists)
Members of STEP, the gold standard for private client lawyers
Charity Law Association members
Institute of Legacy Management members
Solicitors for the Elderly members

Partner died without a will (dying intestate)

We advised an elderly client whose long term partner appears to have died without leaving a will.

Without a will his considerable estate will be distributed in accordance with the statutory provisions and, as he and our client were never legally married, it will pass to distant family with whom he had little contact.

We advised our client to assert an equitable interest in the property based on her financial contributions over a period of time and also to bring a claim against the estate by virtue of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.

Homemade DIY will issues

The team has recently concluded a case which involved a homemade will prepared by a testator whose assets were valued in excess of £1M and comprised of land and business assets.

Advice was required on behalf of the deceased’s infant children as to how the terms of the will would be interpreted and what steps should be taken to ensure that they received a fair proportion of the estate.

A court approved settlement was reached where the infant children would receive a sum in excess £500,000 to be placed on trust for them during their minorities.

Disputed dissolution of a trust

We have advised one of the trustees and potential beneficiaries on the disputed dissolution of a long established trust for a prominent landowning family.

The trust’s assets, including land and antiques were valued at over £4M. This involved advising on diverse and complicated issues including: breach of trust, land law including agricultural tenancies, capital gains, inheritance, income and corporation tax and succession law.

Such issues are relatively commonplace and, given the large amounts of complex and often contentious issues surrounding the dissolution of a trust, specialist, expert and dedicated advice is invariably required.