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If a person lacks the capacity to make a will for themselves, it is possible to make a statutory will for them by applying to the Court of Protection. When seeking to vary such a will, however, the Court of Protection Rules 2017 require that beneficiaries under the existing will must normally be served with the application if they will be 'materially or adversely' affected by the changes. After an application was made to vary the statutory will of a 71-year-old man with a lifelong learning disability, the Court...

Tenants of poorly maintained properties are not powerless and have the ability to apply for rent repayment orders where issues with the property amount to offences committed by the landlord. The First-tier Tribunal (FTT) recently ordered the landlord of an unlicensed house in multiple occupation (HMO) to pay a total of £14,400 in rent repayments to three tenants. The tenants applied to the FTT for orders for repayment of the rent they had paid over a period of nearly a year. The basis of the application was that the landlord...

Disagreements between separating couples all too often result in litigation that substantially reduces the assets available to them, as was illustrated by a case that recently reached the High Court. At issue was whether awards made by arbitrators in financial remedy proceedings can be made into court orders even if that would require one of the parties to borrow money. The couple had previously had a relationship lasting a few years before resuming their relationship in 2015. They had two children before separating again in 2019. Following their separation, the...

Arguments about what someone promised before their death can lead to significant legal costs. However, if faced with a claim against the estate, there may be steps the beneficiaries or executors can take to reduce the risks, as a recent High Court case illustrated. A man had left a farmhouse and agricultural land in Cornwall to his wife, with whom he had also jointly owned a neighbouring area of land. After his death, one of the couple's daughters and her husband claimed that he had told them he wanted them...