As the dust settles on Ilott, Steve Evans reflects on what has & what hasn’t changed
- Freedom of testamentary disposition— what regard is to be had to a deceased’s wishes as forcefully expressed in a written note?
Human interest stories of family squabbles attract media attention, and Heather Ilott’s 13-year legal struggle to receive provision from her estranged mother’s estate certainly excited the media. The litigation culminated in the Supreme Court decision in March of this year in Ilott v The Blue Cross, the RSPB, and RSPCA [2017] UKSC 17, in which the appellant charities succeeded in overturning the Court of Appeal’s award in favour of Mrs Ilott, the estranged daughter of Melita Jackson, who had left all of her estate to animal charities with which she had no particular connection. This was the first time the Supreme Court had considered the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.
The media coverage—at times superficial, ill informed, and bordering on hysterical—clearly favoured the charities, and placed great significance on freedom of testamentary disposition. An impecunious daughter who could only afford a £245 car, and was raising her
