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A race against time?

29 September 2023 / Gareth Williams
Issue: 8042 / Categories: Features , Wills & Probate
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Delays in the processing of statutory wills are causing serious issues with estate distribution: Gareth Williams proposes a simple solution
  • With the resourcing issues currently faced by the court, any application for a statutory is now likely to take months.
  • Measures such as holding wills could be introduced to overcome the potential consequences to those lacking mental capacity and the distribution of their estate.

Court of Protection, wealth protection, trusts and estates practitioners will all share the same primary concern when submitting an application for a statutory will; namely, that the person whose mental capacity is in question (P) doesn’t live long enough for them to get to the end of the process and successfully achieve the desired outcome.

With the resourcing issues currently faced by the court, the same for the Official Solicitor and often a number of other represented parties, there is an uncomfortable expectancy now that any application will be resolved in months, rather than weeks; all while P’s circumstances remain unpredictable.

Much legal toing and froing and the associated

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NEWS
Tech companies will be legally required to prevent material that encourages or assists serious self-harm appearing on their platforms, under Online Safety Act 2023 regulations due to come into force in the autumn
Commercial leasehold, the defence of insanity and ‘consent’ in the criminal law are among the next tranche of projects for the Law Commission
The Bar has a culture of ‘impunity’ and ‘collusive bystanding’ in which making a complaint is deemed career-ending due to a ‘cohort of untouchables’ at the top, Baroness Harriet Harman KC has found
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