Re Coventry (Deceased)
An able bodied adult son in employment must show some special circumstance, such as a moral obligation on the deceased, to succeed in a claim for reasonable provision from his parent's estate.
Facts
Mr Coventry died intestate, so his estate passed under the intestacy rules to his wife, from whom he had been separated for many years. His son, who was in his forties, had lived with him and looked after him in the house after the wife left, and was in work, although on modest earnings. The son claimed reasonable provision from the estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.
Legal principle
The Court of Appeal upheld the dismissal of the claim. Goff LJ said that the question was not whether it might have been reasonable for the deceased to make provision for the applicant, but whether the intestacy rules, in the circumstances, failed to make reasonable provision for his maintenance. An adult son who is in employment and able to earn his living would normally have to show some special circumstance, typically a moral obligation on the deceased to provide for him, and the son had not done so. The approach was considered, and qualified, in Ilott v The Blue Cross.
Related cases on cohabitants, family property and family provision
- Re Besterman (Deceased) [1984] Ch 458
- Burns v Burns [1984] Ch 317
- Cowan v Foreman [2019] EWCA Civ 1336, [2020] Fam 129
- Curran v Collins [2015] EWCA Civ 404
- Eves v Eves [1975] 1 WLR 1338
- Fitzpatrick v Sterling Housing Association Ltd [2001] 1 AC 27
- Ghaidan v Godin-Mendoza [2004] UKHL 30, [2004] 2 AC 557
- Gow v Grant [2012] UKSC 29, 2013 SC (UKSC) 1
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