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 chapter of the series, the team will be diving into the legal standing that a child has to bring a claim under the Inheritance Act.
What is the Inheritance Act?
The Inheritance Act is a law which 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 / Civil Partners
- Former Spouses / Civil Partners
- Cohabiting Partners
- Children
- Children of the Family
- Financial Dependants
Who qualifies as a child of the deceased?
Children are explicitly included in the class of potential applicants under the Inheritance Act at section 1(1)(c), defined as:
‘a child of the deceased’
Contrary to a common misunderstanding of the Inheritance Act, it is not a requirement for this applicant to evidence that they were financially dependant in any way upon the deceased for them to be eligible to bring a claim against the estate.
A child of the deceased includes both adult and minor children.
By operation of section 67 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 it also includes adopted children of the deceased. That means adopted children are eligible to pursue a claim against the estate of their adoptive parents but not against the estate of their biological parents. If they maintained a relationship with their biological parents post-adoption and wanted to bring an Inheritance Act claim against their estate after death they would need to satisfy the court that they qualify instead as a ‘child of the family’ or financial dependant to do so.
Evidencing your eligibility to pursue a claim as a child of the deceased is normally straight forward and satisfied with the production of your birth or adoption certificate showing the deceased named as one of your parents. You will need the long form birth certificate to do so, the short form version will be insufficient.
If it is the case that your father does not appear on your birth certificate then, unless your eligibility to pursue the claim is accepted by your opponents, you will need to evidence that fact before your eligibility to pursue the claim against his estate can be proven. This will often involve a DNA test.
Normally eligibility is a simple hurdle for children to overcome with the production of a certificate and then the court will move on to considering the question of whether reasonable financial provision has been made for you in the Will/under the Intestacy Rules.
How does the court decide if a child 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, the Court will also take into consideration under section 3(3): 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.
The obligation of a parent to maintain their minor child generally persists after death, even in cases where the parent explicitly excludes the child from their Will, unless exceptional circumstances exist. Even in cases where there has been a breakdown in the relationship, a parent’s obligation to maintain their minor child is not typically extinguished and the court will take this into account when assessing claims.
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 / 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 claim 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: ACTAPS Consultancy Firm.
