Contested Probate Solicitors

Losing someone close to you is difficult enough. Discovering that their Will doesn’t say what you expected or that you’ve been left without the support you relied on can make an already painful time feel overwhelming.

Our contested probate solicitors act for people across London and the wider UK in Will disputes and inheritance claims. Whether you believe a Will is invalid, you’ve been unfairly left out of an estate, or you’re an executor or beneficiary facing a claim, we’ll tell you honestly where you stand and negotiate hard to secure what you deserve.

TV Edwards is a long-established, Legal 500 recognised London firm. Our litigators handle every aspect of contentious probate, from modest family disagreements to complex, high-value estate disputes.

Not sure whether you have a claim?

Almost everyone who contacts us starts by asking whether their situation “counts”. The fastest way to find out is to talk it through with a specialist who deals with these disputes every day.

We offer an initial fixed-fee consultation, so you can get a clear view of your position and your options — without committing to open-ended costs.

Call us on 020 3440 8000 or contact us online.

Grounds for Contesting a Will

A Will can’t be challenged simply because it feels unfair or unexpected. To question its validity, you generally need to show one of the following.

Lack of Mental Capacity

The person making a Will must understand what they own, who might reasonably expect to inherit, and the effect of the decisions they are making. Concerns often arise where someone made or changed their Will while living with dementia or a serious illness.

Lack of Knowledge and Approval

Even where someone had capacity, they must have properly understood and approved what the Will says. This can be an issue where the person was frail, had difficulty reading or communicating, or where someone else arranged the Will on their behalf.

Undue Influence

This applies where someone was pressured or coerced into making a Will, or into leaving their estate in a particular way. It goes beyond persuasion — the person’s own wishes must effectively have been overridden by someone else’s.

Forgery or Fraud

The Will itself, or the signature on it, isn’t genuine — or the person was deliberately misled into making it.

Clerical Errors and Mistakes

Sometimes a Will simply doesn’t say what the person intended because of an error when it was drafted, or a misunderstanding of their instructions.

If a challenge succeeds, the estate is usually dealt with under an earlier valid Will. If there isn’t one, it passes under the intestacy rules, which set out a fixed order of who inherits.

Worried your own Will could be questioned one day? Having it professionally prepared and properly witnessed is the strongest protection. Our Will writing solicitors can help, and can assist with changing an existing Will so it clearly reflects your current wishes.

Inheritance Act Claims: When a Will Leaves You Without Enough

Not every dispute is about whether a Will is valid. Sometimes the Will is beyond question — it just doesn’t make reasonable financial provision for someone who was relying on the deceased.

The Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, usually shortened to “the 1975 Act”, allows certain people to apply to the court for provision from an estate. A claim can be brought whether or not the person left a Will: the intestacy rules can leave someone without adequate provision just as easily.

Who Can Bring an Inheritance Act Claim?

The 1975 Act sets out who is entitled to apply:

• the spouse or civil partner of the deceased;
• someone who lived with the deceased as if they were a spouse or civil partner for the two years before the death;
• a child of the deceased, of any age;
• someone treated by the deceased as a child of the family — a stepchild, for example;
• a former spouse or civil partner, provided they haven’t remarried or entered a new civil partnership;
• anyone else who was being maintained, wholly or partly, by the deceased immediately before their death.

That last category matters more than people realise. Long-term partners who never married, and relatives who were quietly supported for years, are frequently left out of a Will and assume nothing can be done.

 What Does “Being Maintained” Mean?

You were being maintained if the deceased supported you financially, in whole or in part, during their lifetime — and that support was still continuing immediately before they died.

Maintenance can take several forms, including:

• regular payments towards your living costs;
• substantial gifts of money;
• housing — for example, being allowed to live in their property rent-free, or at a reduced or nominal rent.

How the Court Decides

The court looks at your financial needs and resources, those of the other beneficiaries, the size of the estate, any obligations the deceased had towards you, and any other relevant circumstances.

Some applicants are treated differently. For a spouse or civil partner, the starting point is what they might have received had the relationship ended in divorce or dissolution rather than death — so the length of the marriage, their age, and their contribution to the home and family all carry weight. For children, the court considers matters such as how the child might reasonably have expected to be educated or trained. 

Where someone was treated as a child of the family, the court also looks at how long and to what extent the deceased maintained them, whether they assumed responsibility for doing so, whether they knew the person wasn’t their own child, and whether anyone else was responsible for supporting them.

What Orders Can the Court Make?

The court has wide discretion. Common outcomes include:

• a lump sum, either for general use or a specific purpose;
• regular payments for ongoing maintenance;
• the sale or transfer of a property, where parties are in dispute over a home;
• property held in trust for the applicant or other beneficiaries.

Disputes With Executors and Administrators

Sometimes the problem isn’t the Will — it’s the person administering the estate. Beneficiaries often come to us concerned that an executor is taking far too long, refusing to explain what’s happening, failing to account for assets, or putting their own interests first.

Executors owe duties to the beneficiaries as a whole. We can advise you on requesting proper information and accounts, and, where matters can’t be put right any other way, on applying to court to have an executor removed or replaced. We also act for executors whose conduct has been challenged, which is a stressful position to be in when you took the role on as a favour to someone you loved.

If you’re an executor who feels out of your depth rather than in dispute, that’s a different problem with a simpler solution — our estate administration solicitors can take the work off your hands, and we can guide you through applying for probate.

Defending a Claim Against an Estate

If you’re an executor or beneficiary facing a challenge, the prospect of litigation can be alarming — particularly while you’re grieving yourself, and often while the claim comes from within your own family.

We defend claims robustly and pragmatically. That means testing the strength of the case against you at the earliest opportunity, protecting the estate from costs that would ultimately come out of everyone’s inheritance, and negotiating firmly where a settlement genuinely serves your interests — while being fully prepared to contest the claim in court where it doesn’t.

 How Long Do You Have to Bring a Claim?

Time limits are one of the most important reasons to seek advice quickly.

A 1975 Act claim must normally be issued within six months of the date of the Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration. The court can allow a late claim, but it isn’t guaranteed, and you shouldn’t rely on it.

There is no fixed deadline for challenging the validity of a Will, but delay still causes serious problems. Once an estate has been distributed, recovering assets from beneficiaries who have already spent or reinvested them becomes far harder — and sometimes impossible.

In short: if something doesn’t feel right, take advice now rather than waiting to see how matters unfold.

Do These Disputes Always End Up in Court?

No — and most don’t. The large majority of inheritance disputes settle by agreement, often long before a final hearing.

That’s usually the better outcome. Court proceedings are expensive, slow, and public, and the costs often come out of the very estate everyone is arguing over. They also tend to leave lasting damage between family members who will still be in each other’s lives afterwards.

Wherever it’s realistic, we’ll explore alternative dispute resolution, such as mediation, to reach a resolution more quickly and at lower cost. But we’ll never advise you to settle for less than your position justifies simply to avoid a fight.

Related Private Client Services

How Our Contested Probate Solicitors Can Help

Every inheritance dispute is different, and emotions usually run high. When you instruct us, we will:

• Give you an honest assessment. From your fixed-fee initial consultation, you’ll get a straight answer on whether you have a claim worth pursuing — or a defence worth running.
• Agree a clear strategy. We’ll establish the outcome you want from the outset, and keep the approach under review as the case develops.
• Gather the evidence that matters. Medical records, the Will file, witness accounts and financial history often decide these cases, and knowing what to obtain — and when — is half the battle.
• Negotiate hard on your behalf. We aim to secure what you deserve from your loved one’s estate, through negotiation or mediation wherever possible and through the courts where necessary.
• Keep you informed in plain English. No jargon, and no wondering what’s happening — you’ll always know where your case stands and what comes next.

Contested probate sits within our wider Private Client service, so if your dispute uncovers other issues — tax, trusts or the administration itself — specialist support is available within the same firm.

Why Choose TV Edwards?

• Specialist contentious probate litigators. A highly skilled team dealing with all aspects of Will and inheritance disputes, however complicated the circumstances.
• An initial fixed-fee consultation. Clarity on your position, and on cost, from the very first meeting.
• Strategic, settlement-minded advice. We fight hard for your interests while looking for resolutions that spare you unnecessary expense, delay and family conflict.
• Legal 500 recognised. Part of a long-established London firm independently recognised for its genuine commitment to clients’ best interests.
• Compassion alongside the litigation. We never lose sight of the fact that behind every one of these disputes is a bereavement.
• Accessible London offices. Based in Whitechapel and Clapham Junction, with nearby parking and good transport links.

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