Priya Tromans: ‘Beware of issuing ‘hopeless’ Inheritance claims in expectation of settlement’
Ever since the well-known case of Ilott v The Blue Cross and others [2017] where an adult child was awarded £50,000 from her mother’s estate (notwithstanding their estrangement), practitioners are regularly approached by adult children in order to claim from an estranged relative’s inheritance. There is often reference to a “10% rule” based on what was awarded in the Ilott.
And because Solicitors are offering to act on a “no win no fee basis” and defendants are caving in, due to advice on the uncertainties of litigation and costs risk, it appears that more and more adults are searching for a way to make good on their parent’s estrangement or disinheritance.
However, Clients should be made aware of the fact that the Ilott Judgment is one end of a broad spectrum, as the recent case of Shapton v Seviour [2020] illustrates.
