“Going into law was the best thing I ever did. I was late to start, gaining my training contract at 38, but the fact I had some experience really helped me relate to my clients, their concerns and priorities.
One of my most memorable cases was my 64 year old client, who made a claim against the estate of his late partner, who he’d been with for 25 years. He’d been married once before, but when it ended in a messy divorce, he vowed to never re-marry.
He wanted to avoid his ex-wife making any financial claims on his assets in future, so in his new relationship, they agreed all of their finances would be controlled by his partner, except for one joint account. It was a mutual agreement – but my client didn’t understand the potential implications this had.
When his partner died unexpectedly without a Will, the majority of the couple’s assets, including the house they’d paid for together, fell into her estate.
The intestacy rules applied, meaning her estate would be distributed to her two adult children from a previous relationship, with whom she’d not spoken in 25 years. My client would receive nothing except for a few thousand pounds in their shared account.
My client was frantic with worry that he would be evicted from his home of 10 years. He was anxious that after the funds from the shared account had gone towards the funeral and his living costs, he’d have nothing left. He didn’t know how he’d manage going forward, on top of dealing with the sudden loss of his partner.
His partner’s children had been contacting him constantly since their mother’s death, with questions about assets and wanting to sell the house immediately.
We made contact with his partner’s children, setting out the claim that our client should receive financial provision from the estate. This was robustly contested, which was stressful for our client as he was adamant about not going to court. After eight months of correspondence, we persuaded the children to agree to mediation, and a settlement was finally reached.
Our client was to receive 61% of the estate and the contents of their home, but the property needed to be sold. It took almost two years to complete, but our client was allowed to stay in the property rent free until the sale went through, and we were regularly in contact with him to make sure everything was ok.
It wasn’t a particularly ground-breaking case, but what really stuck with me was the client’s vulnerability. He realised he’d made a mistake putting everything into his partner’s name, and would often berate himself for being “a fool”, but he just didn’t realise the implications.
He believed in a ‘common law’ marriage, and didn’t realise that without being married, and his partner dying without a Will, he had no entitlement to her estate.
The settlement fairly reflected his contribution to the relationship, and enabled him to purchase his own home, have some savings, and move forward – which meant so much to him and so much to me too.”
Carla is a Senior Associate with experience with a wide range of contentious probate issues and leads our Will, Trust and Estate Disputes team in Sheffield.
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