To mark the 50th anniversary of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (‘the Inheritance Act’) receiving Royal Assent on 12 November 2025 Hayley’s specialist Consultancy Team are releasing an ‘Inside the Inheritance Act’ series to provide clients with a deeper dive into how the Inheritance Act works; one article per week in the series, in the build up to the anniversary.
In this edition, we look at the legal standing a ‘child of the family’ has to bring a claim under the Inheritance Act.
What is the Inheritance Act?
The Inheritance Act provides a mechanism for certain categories of individuals to seek (increased) reasonable financial provision from the estate of a deceased person where their Will or the intestacy rules have failed to provide that provision for them upon their death.
The categories of applicants who can make a claim are:
- Spouses and Civil Partners
- Former Spouses and Civil Partners
- Cohabiting Partners
- Children
- Children of the Family
- Financial Dependants
What does child of the family mean?
A child of the family is explicitly included in the class of potential applicants under the Inheritance Act at section 1(1)(d), defined as:
“any person (not being a child of the deceased) who in relation to any marriage or civil partnership to which the deceased was at any time a party, or otherwise in relation to any family in which the deceased at any time stood in the role of a parent, was treated by the deceased as a child of the family”
Contrary to a common misunderstanding of the Inheritance Act, it is not a requirement for them to evidence that they were financially dependant in any way upon the deceased in order to be eligible to bring a claim against the estate.
However, like a cohabiting partner or financial dependant, this category of applicant must evidence their eligibility to bring the claim before they can move on to the court considering whether reasonable financial provision has been made for them. They are not simply able to produce a certificate to evidence that eligibility, as with the remaining categories of applicant, and instead must evidence the nature of their relationship with the deceased to satisfy the court that they are eligible first.
Who qualifies under that definition?
It includes step-children (both adult and minor) in the traditional sense (of a married/civil partnership couple) but since the 2014 update to the definition it crucially also now includes ‘step-children’ of unmarried couples, or even where the deceased was a sole parent to the applicant, as well as individuals where the deceased stood in the role of a parent for them. This latter category will often catch grandchildren where their grandparent has raised them.
For this reason, eligibility to bring the claim is an additional hurdle to overcome in making a successful claim for a child of the family than for a biological or adopted child (where the production of a birth/adoption certificate is sufficient to prove their eligibility).
How does the court then decide if a child of the family should receive (increased) financial provision from the estate?
That will be decided by the judge weighing in the balance various factors under section 3 of the Inheritance Act. These are: (a) the financial needs and resources of the applicant (b) the financial needs and resources of any other applicant (c) the financial needs and resources of any beneficiary of the estate (d) any obligations or responsibilities the deceased had to make provision for the applicant (e) the size and nature of the estate (f) any physical or mental disability of the applicant or any beneficiary and (g) any other relevant matter such as conduct of the applicant, the deceased or another person.
In addition to those factors, when deciding a claim specifically for a child of the family, the Court will also take into consideration: the manner in which the applicant was being, or might be expected to be, educated or trained (particularly relevant for minor applicants), whether the deceased maintained the applicant and if so for how long and the extent of that contribution, the liability of any other person to maintain the applicant and whether the deceased assumed responsibility for the applicant and if so whether they did so knowing they were not their biological child.
What does reasonable financial provision mean?
The definition of reasonable financial provision for a child of the family is that which is required in all the circumstances of the case for their maintenance (section 1(2)(b)).
The definition of “maintenance” has been determined by various cases as not requiring an individual to live on the breadline but also not providing for them to live in luxury. It often lies somewhere in the middle and is decided on a case by case basis.
The court has broad powers to award appropriate remedies, including orders for periodical payments, lump sums, and the transfer of specific property to the applicant. In theory the court has the power to redistribute the entirety of the estate in favour of the applicant if it deemed that to be reasonable financial provision for their maintenance, though this would be an unlikely outcome with successful awards normally being made for a lump sum payment to be made from the estate for the applicant and the remainder of the estate to be distributed in accordance with the terms of the Will or intestacy rules to the existing beneficiaries.
In the case of minors, the court may order that any award be placed in a trust until the child is an adult. These remedies are designed to ensure that the child’s financial needs are met during their minority whilst ensuring any remaining capital which the court deems necessary for their maintenance into adulthood is preserved for them to access from the age of 18.
When should you start an Inheritance Act claim?
The Inheritance Act imposes a time-limit (also called a limitation date) on starting these claims with the Court, which is six months from the date of the Grant of Probate or Grant of Letters of Administration. Whilst section 4 of the Inheritance Act permits the bringing of a claim after this time there are various factors which the court must take into account when deciding whether to allow applicants to do so and it can make the claim more difficult to succeed upon. For this reason it is important that you seek specialist legal advice upon your rights to bring a claim as soon as possible following the deceased’s death.
SBMB – Specialist Inheritance Act Consultancy Firm
If you feel you have not received adequate provision from the estate of a loved one (either in a Will or via the rules of intestacy), please contact us for a free initial consultation to discuss your options for bringing a child of the family claim under the Inheritance Act and how we can help, including any funding arrangements that we may be able to offer (such as no win no fee).
Read more in the series: ‘Inside the Inheritance Act’.
For more from Hayley’s specialist Consultancy Team go to ACTAPS Consultancy Firm.
