A man had helped his parents buy in a house in 1982. Despite his contribution, which was agreed to be more than half the cost of buying the house, the house was bought in his parents’ names and it was informally agreed that the son would be entitled to half the property in due course. After the father died, the mother became the sole owner of the house. On her death, she left half her estate to her son and the other half to her other children.
The son argued his mother held a half-share of the house for him in trust and he was entitled to more than just half of the residuary estate, i.e. the value of the estate once specific bequests and estate expenses have been met.
Unfortunately the mother’s will did not make it clear as to whether she considered that her will included the value of the house. If her will did include the value of the house, the son would need to decide whether to renounce his bequest in the will and keep his beneficial interest in the property or accept the bequest and compensate the other children who were beneficiaries in the will.
The Court, at first instance, ruled that the son did not have a beneficial interest in the house, but only a half-share in the estate. The Court of Appeal overruled this and found that the son did have a beneficial interest in the house and it was clearly common ground between him and his parents that he owned a half interest in it. The Court also found that the mother considered that her will did include the value of the house, so the son was required to decide whether to keep his beneficial interest and renounce his bequest or accept the bequest and compensate the other beneficiaries. The mother did not intend her son to have any more than a half share of her estate.
To avoid lengthy and costly legal disputes, it would have been ideal if the mother’s will had been clear as to what her intentions were and whether she had included the value of the house when deciding how to share out her estate. Lawson-West, solicitors, strongly recommend using a solicitor to make a will to avoid disputes later as solicitors can point out and make recommendations where potential points for dispute could arise later. Lawson-West can also draft a letter of wishes to be stored with your will which can explain how you made decisions in your will such as wanting to give a higher bequest to a child on significantly lower earnings than their siblings or making a specific bequest to an adult child who has contributed towards purchase of a property or provided care.
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