Earlier this year a client’s son passed away soon after being diagnosed with a terminal illness. Prior to his death, the deceased indicated verbally that a Will presented to him for signing was in accordance with his wishes; however, he never had the opportunity to sign the Will before independent witnesses, and thus died without an executed Will.

As the deceased had no spouse or children, under the rules of intestacy his father, our client, was the sole beneficiary of the Estate. This was an undesirable outcome for the family, as the father’s pension would have been affected and he preferred that the siblings of the deceased, his other children, benefit from the Estate rather than himself.


Fortunately, we were able to work with our professional partners and they were able to prove the unsigned Will by establishing to the Supreme Court’s satisfaction that it may dispense with the formalities of signing required and admit it to Probate. While we managed to achieve a successful outcome for our client, the costs to the Estate were much higher than if the deceased had executed a valid Will prior to his death.