Contentious Probate & Inheritance Disputes - A Guide to Their Efficient & Effective Resolution

Introduction

An aging population, increasing property prices and an increase in both the divorce rate and the creation of blended families provide a complex set of social, demographic and economic factors which inevitably result in an ever-increasing volume of disputes over the estates of deceased people.

Yet few disgruntled beneficiaries arrive with a neatly conceptualised probate claim.

In many cases the initial complaint will be unfocused and led by grievance rather than remedy.

Thus, early case analysis might demand consideration of elements formal validity, forgery, capacity, estoppel and family provision.

It might trespass into constructive trust, undue influence or the law of partnerships.

This new full day course with members of Pump Court Chambers is designed to take a holistic and practical approach to the avoidance and resolution of probate and inheritance disputes acknowledging the complex context in which they might be expected to arise and will focus on common pitfalls and traps for the unwary practitioner.

It is aimed both at litigators and non-contentious practitioners who wish to achieve a better understanding of the variety and nature of challenges that can arise post-death.

What You Will Learn

This in-person course will cover the following:

• Formal validity under the 1837 Act, forgery, fraud and issues surrounding revocation
• Substantive validity, capacity, knowledge and approval, fraudulent calumny and undue influence
• Passing over and the removal and replacement of executors and administrators
• Disputes arising over burial, headstones, ashes and remains
• CPR Part 64, construction and administration disputes
• Family provision, constructive trusts and proprietary estoppel
• ADR, mediation of claims, early neutral evaluation and costs, part 36 offers and the exceptions to the general rules in probate proceedings