by johnireland | Legal Spotlight
A High Court case from May 2026 shows how inherited family wealth is treated when a spouse challenges a Will.Thirsk v Thirsk & Ors [2026] EWHC 1501 (Ch): a widow challenged her late husband’s Will under the 1975 Act. The estate was worth around £30 million,...
by johnireland | Legal Spotlight
McDaniel v Talbot & Anor [2026] EWHC 928 (Ch) shows what can happen when a Will is not updated after family life changes. Mark Talbot’s 2014 Will left everything to his wife and expressly excluded his daughter, Emma, citing twenty years without contact. From...
by johnireland | Legal Spotlight
In Brinner v Brinner & Ors [2026] EWHC 1462 (Ch), handed down on 16 June 2026, the High Court removed an eldest son as executor of his father’s estate and appointed an independent administrator. The father’s widow believed he still held hidden...
by johnireland | Legal Spotlight
Ugolor v Ugolor [2026] EWHC 745 (Ch) set aside a homemade 2008 Will — not for lack of capacity, and not for undue influence, but for want of knowledge and approval. The Will had plainly been drafted by the son who was the main beneficiary. It used his formal name...
by johnireland | Legal Spotlight
Ginger v Mickleburgh is a recent High Court case about a Will that was thrown out because the person who made it lacked the mental capacity to do so. Michael Gwilliam signed a Will in 2014 that cut his four daughters’ inheritance in favour of his sister, her son...
by johnireland | Legal Spotlight
Two 2025/2026 High Court cases — Stephenson v Daley and Bowerman v Bowerman — confirm that waiting too long to challenge a Will can be fatal to the claim, even where the underlying argument might otherwise have some merit. In Stephenson v Daley, sons who challenged...
