Will Signings in the Digital Age & Litigants in Person.
Hayley Bundey, a specialist Senior Consultancy Solicitor working in association with Slee Blackwell, discusses a recent example of how digital evidence is having more and more of an impact in Will signings and the litigation which can follow via contentious probate claims.
You might think “that’s a great idea” – how could someone possibly challenge a Will and get it overturned if there is video footage of the deceased signing the document for the judge to see in the flesh what happened at the will signing even after they have sadly passed on.
There you would be wrong, at least in this instance. The recent case of Margaret Baverstock’s Will is the cautionary tale as to why. In this case the evidence appears to have been damning that Margaret’s daughter, Lisa, was physically coercing her mother into signing the Will when she “had no idea what was going on” and could “barely flicker an eyelid” whilst suffering from advanced dementia at the time.
The judge’s scathing comments surrounding the Will signing were a damning condemnation of the daughter’s actions who was said to have “manipulated her hand and herself physically caused the deceased’s hand to move and make marks on the document”.
The most telling part of the case is that the video evidence was introduced by Lisa herself – perhaps believing it would support the validity of the document – and she represented herself at trial.
Hayley says in response to this case:
“We are seeing more and more examples of litigants in person thinking they can manage these complex cases to trial despite the fact they are crying out for specialist legal advice; with some defendants simply not wanting to pay the fees for the advice (a clear false economy in the end) or often not wanting to hear the advice they are given because they think they know better.
This case is an example of what we commonly see day to day in our specialist consultancy team, of children believing they are entitled to inherit from their parent, talking themselves into a situation where they feel more entitled than their siblings because “they did all the caring” so that when their parent is at their most vulnerable they take advantage of that vulnerability in seeking to financially benefit from their estate.
The delusional nature of these defendants’ view of what they are doing is only reinforced by this case where the video evidence which she presumably expected to help her in fact showed the judge clearly the level of manipulation and control she was exercising over her poor mother.
We welcome this judgment as clear condemnation by the courts of such abhorrent abuse of the elderly which will hopefully send a signal to misguided individuals to think twice before seeking to manipulate and take advantage of their own parents.”
Hayley’s Consultancy Team specialise in managing these complex cases, often made all the more difficult to manage by intransigent defendants acting as litigants in person (LIP). She has personal experience of ensuring that the full weight of the penalties and sanctions the courts have to offer are brought down on LIPs who force her clients to go to trial during her own resounding success at trial in the case of Smith v Fraser. You can read about her careful management of that defendant LIP towards a damning judgment by the judge of her poor conduct and how that made all the difference at trial.
If you would like to read more about Hayley’s experience and specialist areas of consultancy practice as an ACTAPS member, you can find further details on her dedicated webpage.
Hayley’s consultancy team is happy to offer a free case assessment to discuss how they may be able to help you in your own situation, including the various funding options open to you, such as no win no fee agreements, to help achieve justice in these most difficult of cases.
