Head of JMW’s Will Disputes team, Alison Parry, has successfully resolved a dispute between siblings in respect of their deceased parent’s estate.

Our client who had been left the majority of their parent’s estate in the Will faced a challenge by their sibling to the validity of the Will. Allegations were raised that our client had coerced the Deceased to change their Will at a time when they were ill and vulnerable and, the sibling alleged, the Deceased did not have capacity to change their Will. 

The dispute had taken over our client’s life and it became all-consuming such that they were unable to properly grieve for their parent while that dispute was ongoing and they were torn between a wish to respect and preserve their parent’s clear wishes as against potentially agreeing a settlement in order to put the matter behind them.

We helped our client by removing the pressure they felt under, and ensured they were aware that despite the lack of merit in the claim it was not necessarily wrong to pay something in settlement of the claim in order to enable them to move on with their life in the manner in which their parent would have wanted for them.

The claim was successfully resolved by way of settlement at mediation which our client was extremely happy with.

The outcome has enabled our client to move on with their life and enjoy the inheritance received and retained as part of the settlement rather than focusing on a dispute for the next number of months. In their words; “the nightmare has ended”.