Contested Estates: Charities v Relatives
Posted on July 06, 2017
When a charity is left a gift in a will and the will is contested by a relative of the deceased, how does the law view the charity’s claim to the gift against the relative’s?
Firstly, the relative contesting the will needs to be an eligible claimant under the Inheritance (Family Provision) Act. That is they need to be a spouse, former spouse, domestic partner, child or grandchild of the deceased. A step child is an eligible claimant if they were maintained by the deceased immediately prior to their death and a parent and sibling of the deceased are eligible if they cared for the deceased during their life time.
If the relative is eligible they must then establish that they have been left without adequate provision for their proper maintenance, education or advancement in life. In determining whether this has occurred all the circumstances of the case are considered.
When a charity is involved, one of the circumstances considered is the moral claim of the relative compared to that of the charity. Generally, charities are not regarded as having a moral claim equivalent to that of a relative, notwithstanding that they are mentioned in the will and the relative is not.
However, this does not mean that charities do not have a competing claim to the estate. The law recognises a special interest or connection that the deceased held with the charity they named in their will when considering a relative’s claim.
If the gifts to the charity were motivated for philanthropic and sincere reasons and the deceased donated money, time and their professional skills to the charity during their life and had a genuine interest in the charity’s endeavours, then the charity has a competing claim to the relative's moral claim.
The conduct of the relative is also relevant. Their relationship with the deceased may disentitle them from making a claim against the estate. For example, they may have been estranged from the deceased or be otherwise undeserving. This will weaken their moral claim and strengthen the charity’s competing claim.
Therefore, charities must keep records of all the donations they receive and the volunteers who give their time to assisting the charity. If a charity ever receives a gift in a will this information could be critical in establishing a competing claim to the estate against a relative.
Lynch Meyer has extensive experience in assisting charities and not for profit groups, not only in deceased estate matters but also in industrial relations, defamation, image protection, constitutional arrangements and commercial matters. Please contact us if you require assistance with any of these matters.