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 […]
The deathbed gift – known as donatio mortis causa (or ‘a gift given in anticipation of death’) is an aspect of English Law that comes directly from our Roman legal heritage. It covers the situation where someone (the Donor) makes a gift ‘on their deathbed’ – of money or of property – to take effect only on their death. As the courts have recognised, deathbed gifts are open to abuse […]
‘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 […]