In a recent blog,we looked at the deathbed gift – or donatio mortis causa. Putting the case law into practise, in Keeling v Keeling, the courts have recently rejected a claim by a brother that his sister made a ‘death bed gift’ to him of her house, at the expense of other relatives. The Facts of Keeling v Keeling Stephen and Frank Keeling and Ellen Exler were siblings. Ellen died […]
The Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 allows claims for ‘maintenance’ from a deceased’s estate by “a person who immediately before the death of the deceased was being maintained either wholly or partly by the deceased” (Section 1(1)(e)). In the case of Kenneth Paul King v The Chiltern Dog Rescue, Redwings Horse Sanctuary [2015] EWCA Civ 581, the Court of Appeal had to review the situation where the […]
‘Deathbed gifts’ are one of the limited exceptions to the general principle that on death, the property of the deceased should be disposed of according to either a written will, or the rules on intestacy. The courts have long recognised that the concept of the ‘deathbed gift’ is open to abuse. The case of Kenneth Paul King v The Chiltern Dog Rescue, Redwings Horse Sanctuary illustrates the strict approach that […]