Paola Fudakowska & Henrietta Mason provide a wills & probate update
In Burgess & Burgess v Hawes [2012] WTLR 423, Mrs Burgess (B) prepared a will on 23 September 1996 leaving her estate equally between her three children, Julia (J), Peter (P) and Libby (L). On 20 December 2006, after an argument between J and P, J took B to a solicitor to prepare a new will which would leave her estate to J and L alone. On 27 December 2006, B had a fall. On 12 January 2007, J took B to see the solicitor and B signed a will excluding P. In April 2007, B opened a joint account with J, into which she paid a significant portion of her savings and her pension. On 23 November 2007, B suffered a stroke. A CAT scan showed signs of previous damage to the brain, which were likely to have resulted from a previous stroke. B died on 30 May 2009.
L (despite taking more under the 2007 will than the 1996 will) and P sought to challenge the validity of the 2007 will on
