Disputed Wills & Legacies
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+44 (0)800 331 7640
We are a nationally recognised team advising in the area of Disputed Wills, Trusts & Legacies.
Our experienced team has an excellent reputation for advising on complex issues connected with Wills, trusts and estates for both charities and individuals.
How can we help?
Our specialist team provides expert and understanding advice on a range of disputes.
If you have any concerns about the terms of a will or the provisions of an estate − for example, if you believe you have been unfairly excluded from a will or left without financial provision, there are steps that you can take.
We look to resolve problems as quickly as possible. In particular, we aim to tackle issues via Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods such as mediation, wherever appropriate.
Please do not hesitate to contact a member of our team to find out more.
Highly regarded firm that competes with the big names in the capital for this work. Able to offer experienced partner involvement at competitive rates.
Legal 500 2020
The profile of this team is on the rise: it is involved in some of the largest, most complex proceedings. Its USP is that it combines the experience of the big London firms but with the fresh perspective of a firm outside London.
Legal 500 2020
The advice I received graduated towards an agreed solution - at no time did I feel that I was being led into an area that had not been discussed.
Legal 500 2020
The team is hard-working and professional at all times. It focuses on executable strategies and is not distracted by manoeuvres of their opponents.
Legal 500 2020
The Michelmores team is thoughtful, responsive and spends time listening to what clients actually need and want before suggesting creative solutions. They also give good value.
Legal 500 2020
The firm keeps you involved in determining the strategy and never overreaches itself, recognising where it is appropriate for it to step back and allow the client to retake control of matters.
Legal 500 2017
After more than seven years embroiled in a family dispute over an inherited farm I was lucky enough to be recommended to contact the Disputed Wills & Trusts Team at Michelmores. So began the long road to recovery. The Michelmores team were terrific and I cannot thank them enough.
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- Statutory codicil and interpretation
- Mental capacity to marry but not to make a Will
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- The importance of witnessing a will
- Stepfamilies and will drafting
- Inheritance Disputes – Can the Court compel a party to provide DNA evidence?
- High Court rejects claim for reasonable financial provision brought nine years late
- Reform of the Law of Wills – where are we now?
- Michelmores shortlisted in the 2018 Devon & Somerset Law Society’s Legal Awards
- Bad English can still make a good Will – the interpretation of homemade Wills
- The tale of the poisoned mother and the fraudulent calumny
- Mistaken beliefs and the validity of Wills
- Draft text message found to be a valid Will
- Victory for disinherited daughter in claim against her father's estate
- Beneficiaries’ right to accounts – a recent case
- Mutual Wills – a binding promise?
- Trustees' duty to account to beneficiaries
- The greatest changes to the law of Wills in centuries?
- $50m Will forgery: contempt proceedings allowed
- No Will, no way…
- Ilott v Mitson – judgment of the Supreme Court
- New guidelines for Charities and Litigation
- Cut out of father's fortune due to being unemployed
- Alien delusions and testamentary capacity
- Michelmores grows Disputed Wills and Trusts team
- Crociani and others v Crociani and others
- £164,000 landmark ruling
- Deathbed gifts: new developments in the law
- Michelmores shortlisted
- Digital assets: advice for personal representatives
- Nil rate band legacies
- Deathbed gifts: an overview
- Lucian Freud: disputed wills and secret trusts
- Are the Floodgates Open?
- Supreme Court's Decision: Increase in Legacy Disputes?
- Signature Error Ultimately Proves Not to be Fatal to Will
- Will a Trustee always be indemnified?
Get in touch
Tony Cockayne
Partner
Meet the team
Recent experience
- Acting for the spouse of a famous artist in relation to the provisions of his Will.
- Securing a settlement in a case involving a complex Estate with aspects relating to Texan law.
- Bringing proceedings on behalf of defendants in a High Court trial regarding testamentary capacity.
- Acting for the ultimate beneficiaries of a trust who were concerned that the trustees were depleting the trust assets and favouring another beneficiary.
- Reaching settlement for a charity client at a mediation in a claim concerning the testamentary capacity of the Deceased (a famous ballerina).
- Acting for the claimant wife of a wealthy property developer, who lost capacity following a stroke, in a dispute with our client's step-children over the management of his business.