A parent’s right to disinherit their estranged children has been dealt a blow by the courts.
Leeds county court held last week that an estranged child of the late Stanley Nahajec could claim £30,000 of her father’s £264,000 estate despite him explicitly disinheriting all three of his children, in Nahajec v Fowle [2017] EW Misc 11 (CC).
Elena Nahajec made her claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.
The ruling follows that of Ilott v Blue Cross [2017] UKSC 17 in March, in which a claim by an estranged daughter for reasonable financial provision under the 1975 Act resulted in a grant of £50,000 from a £500,000 estate.
Commenting on Nahajec, Julia Burns, associate at Irwin Mitchell, said: ‘After the Ilott case, it was thought that estranged adult child claims should be treated with real caution and that estrangement could be fatal to claims or severely reduce the value of an award.
‘However, the judge here commented that the deceased was stubborn, intransigent and insensitive and that the estrangement was not for want of trying on the part of the claimant who had been rebuffed.
‘The award was 11.3% of the estate which is very similar to that in the Ilott case (within 1%). There was specific mention of her wanting to do a veterinary course so this is an example of something that falls under the definition of “maintenance” post Ilott .
‘This means that estranged child claims are not dead in the water but suggests that any claimants will need to show a track record of reconciliation attempts in order for the judges to consider their views.’
