was brought by an unrepresented Claimant
against her late mother’s Will.
Background
Mrs Bascoe made a Will in 1992 in which she
left an inheritance worth £10,0000 to each of
her four children.
Following a very strained relationship with her
2 daughters, she decided to review her wishes
and in 2005 instructed Mr Whynter to draft a
revised Will in which she expressed that she
did not wish to leave her daughters anything
“beyond the legacies I have made in this
Will.” She cited her daughters as being “rude,
unpleasant and in some instances physically
violent” behaviour towards her and for this
reason she expressed her wish to leave £100
to her daughter Patricia Johnson and £500 to
her other daughter Beverley. The remainder of
her estate was to pass to her son Barnaby
who was also a named executor alongside Mr
Whynter.
The Claim
Mrs Bascoe died in 2015 at the age of 96. Ms
Johnson claimed her mother lacked capacity at
the time the revised Will was made due to her
mother showing signs of dementia in 2001 and
therefore her earlier Will should take effect.
She further cited claims of undue influence by
her brother Barnaby along with the claim that
her mothers’ signature had been forged.
It was found that whilst Mrs Bascoe did later
lose capacity, at the time she made her revised
Will, it was clear she had capacity. On review
of medical records, it was also relevant that
the family had only raised concerns of her
mother suffering from dementia in 2008 which
was 3 years after the revised Will had been
made. Mrs Bascoe was formally diagnosed in
February 2009 as suffering from Dementia.
Mr Whynter argued that there was no
concern of undue influence when he took her
instructions for the revised Will.
Outcome
After consideration, the Judge found against
Patricia Johnson and ruled the 2005 Will was
indeed valid. There was no evidence of undue
influence or that the signature had been forged
20
the society of will writers
– if this had been the case then realistically
the witnesses to the Will would have been part
of the alleged collusion.
Although it was clear that Mrs Bascoe had
changed her mind on a number of occasions
about the split of her estate before the final
Will had been drawn up and that no attendance
notes had been made, it was relevant that
alongside the Will, Mrs Bascoe had written a
letter of wishes explaining the reasons for the
disproportionate sums of money to her children
(as explained above) and it was very clear she
did not want her daughters to benefit further
from her estate.
So, what’s the take away point from all
of this? Always ensure clear instructions
are taken from your clients. If they
wish to leave disproportionate sums to
children, explore the reasons for this,
ensure letter of wishes are written but
more importantly ensure that as a will
writer, you always take detailed notes of
every meeting with the client and advise
them of any risks to ensure this does not
later come back to you with a potential
negligence claim.
Let’s see what interesting cases 2020 holds…