Can Extended Members Of Family Claim Where A Deceased’s Will Only Refers To A Class of Beneficiary?

Generally, when drafting a Will a testator will be advised to chose classes of beneficiaries where possible. By example, a testator may choose to leave part of their estate to their children, whereby they will proceed to name each of their children in their Will. This avoids any doubt as to who should inherit and is particularly necessary when dealing with extended family members.

Open class of beneficiaries in a Will

There will be times however, where it is necessary for a testator to leave a class of beneficiaries open. An example of this could be when a testator wishes to leave part of their estate to their grandchildren but knows they are likely to have more grandchildren before their death. In this scenario it would be advised to name the current grandchildren but also to leave the class open as to include any more grandchildren they may have upto the date of their death.

Including an open class of beneficiaries in a Will always has potential to create some ambiguity and potentially allows claims being made from extended family members or those the testator never intended on inheriting.

Case law – Re the Estate of Peter Henry Wales

The recent case of Re the Estate of Peter Henry Wales considered a claim made by the deceased’s extended nieces and nephews, when the executors sought declaration as to whom is to be classed as a beneficiary under the deceased’s Will.

The deceased in this case worded his Will as ’such all of my nephews and nieces children’. The deceased had a number of nephews and nieces by blood, but also had some through marriage. The executors therefore sought confirmation from the Court as to whether this was to only include those blood relatives, or whether this extended to those deemed as relatives by marriage.

The Court considered the history of the deceased to ascertain who was deemed to be a beneficiary. The Court noted in particular:

• The fact that the deceased was married to his late wife for 46 years;
• The deceased’s late wife’s Will could have left her respective estate to the nephews and nieces by both blood and marriage;
• The late wife’s estate however passed to the deceased absolutely;
• There was no evidence of why the deceased would have wanted to exclude his nephews and nieces formed by marriage; and
• The deceased had continued to maintain contact with the all nephews and nieces after his wife’s death.

Based on the above, the Court held that the deceased must have intended for all his nephews and nieces to inherit and confirmed to the executors that both family by blood and marriage were to be beneficiaries.

The Court stressed that each case should be dealt with individually, but it is apparent that the Court will look into the history of the deceased and if there is a clear connection with the extended family and no evidence of not wanting the family members to inherit, then extended family are likely to be deemed as beneficiaries.

Such action can also be made by any prospective beneficiary whereby they can also seek a declaration as to whether they should inherit under a deceased’s Will. The difficulty here lies with the beneficiary potentially not having sight of the Will unless the estate goes to probate.