Under English law a person can leave their assets including their property to whoever they like. This may mean that they leave everything to charity rather than their family. Provided they are of sound mind when they make their Will then it should be valid. This may not always be obvious. For example someone with dementia may have days where they are quite lucid and know what they are doing. If they make the Will on one of those days it may be valid. Often it will be necessary to obtain evidence from their GP or a lawyer who drafted the Will as to their state of mind at the relevant time.
If a Will is valid there are still ways to challenge it. For example if you were financially dependent on the person making the Will (known as the testator) and you have been cut out then you can bring a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. This claim will be for reasonable financial provision to be made, so that the estate of the testator has to provide you with enough money to support you, as happened immediately before they died. The court can only base an award on the size of the estate, so the less money there is the smaller the award is likely to be. The number of others who are due to benefit from the estate will also be a factor.
Or you may think that the testator was put under undue pressure by someone to cut you out, though this is generally quite hard to prove. It is quite a common allegation where one relative may have a closer relationship than others. For example this may happen when the relative lived with the testator at the time they made their Will. However it might be natural for the testator to leave more money to someone who they were closer to and perhaps provided care to them at the end of their life. So the fact that there has been unequal distribution or someone has been cut out does not necessarily mean the testator has been pressurised by anyone.
It’s always worth getting early legal advice if you think that you have been unfairly cut out of a Will, as there are time limits which apply. It’s also worth checking the position if you are an executor of someone’s Will and are facing claim on their estate. Even if the claim has no merit it will give you peace of mind to know this.
