25 Jul 2024

Inheritance Act Claims – Am I at Risk?

When preparing a Will, you can leave your estate to whoever you want.

This may lead to some people being disappointed that they were not left anything, or left lesser provision than someone else.

During an already emotionally charged time, when dealing with the grief of losing a loved one, disagreements can lead to damaging family fractures that, in worse case scenarios, may never heal.

If motivated by a surety that they are entitled to a share of an inheritance, some will make a claim under the Inheritance Act, which protects certain people based on their financial dependence, among others.

What is the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975?

Often referred to as the ‘Inheritance Act’ or ‘IPFDA’, the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 seeks to protect those who were financially dependent on the deceased; set classes of people, as dictated by law, are covered by the act.

These include:

A spouse or civil partner
Children, including adopted children or some who have been treated as a child of the marriage (for example, stepchildren)
A former spouse or civil partner if they have not remarried or entered into another civil partnership
Someone living with the deceased continually for two years before their death
Anyone being financially maintained by the deceased.

If you fall within one of the above categories, the Act allows you to bring a claim that the deceased failed to make reasonable financial provision from their estate.

Why would a claim like this be made?

A claim of this nature would be for such reasonable financial provision that is necessary for the maintenance of a person that falls into the above categories.

However, if you are a spouse that is claiming, then you are able to claim for the reasonable financial provision regardless of whether it is required for your maintenance.

If a claim is made, the court will consider many factors such as the financial resources and need of the application, the obligations and responsibilities the deceased had toward the application, the size of the estate, and many others.

It is also important to note that an Inheritance Act claim must be lodged with the court within six months of the Grant of Representation (Probate or Letters of Administration) being issued.

Am I at risk of a claim?

People often have complex family lives and may wish to exclude someone from benefits under their Will for lots of reasons, such as estrangement or financial matters.

Regardless of your reasons for doing so, if that person falls under the categories set out in the Inheritance Act above, they could make a claim on your estate.

During your lifetime you may think these people would accept their position and not bother making a claim, however it is common for people to change their mind after you have passed away and you are not able to refute anything.

Should there be anyone who could bring a claim, no matter your relationship with them, you should strongly consider taking some protective and proactive action.

How can I protect my estate from an Inheritance Act claim?

Whilst you cannot completely prevent such a claim from being made, you can take protective steps to ensure that, if a claim is made, there is less chance of it succeeding.

The most common way to reduce risk and protect your estate from an Inheritance Act claim is to prepare a statement to go alongside your Will, explaining in detail your reasoning behind selecting your beneficiaries and why you may have left no or lesser provision to certain people.

Preparing such a statement gives you the opportunity to explain your reasoning in writing and acts as direct evidence from yourself. If a claim is made a Court will give substantial weight to your statement when determining whether the claim should succeed.