Private Wealth and Succession Planning

Rekha Toor
October 2025

The case of Howe -v- Howe saw an adult child bring a claim pursuant to the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (“1975 Act”) against her late father’s estate.

Background

Mr Roger Howe (“the Deceased”), died on 27th March 2020, he had made a will dated 4th July 2017 in which he had entirely cut out his only daughter Jenna Howe. The Deceased had made clear the reasons for excluding his daughter, he described her as “lazy” “lying” and “useless”. Instead, he left his estate to his mother, sister and two nephews.

Miss Howe initially issued a claim to have the will set aside on the basis that the signature of one of the attesting witnesses had been forged. Unfortunately for Miss Howe, this claim failed due to the death of the witness and as such she withdrew her claim and it was ordered that she would pay towards the executor’s costs, the sum of £42,000.

Miss Howe then pursed a claim under the 1975 Act for reasonable financial provision for her maintenance as she had been excluded by her father from his will, she was claiming the sum of £450,000.

Miss Howe’s position was that it was owing to her father’s poor treatment of her when she was a child/teenager which is what directly contributed towards her health issues which made her unable to work and which now gave her the need to bring a claim under the 1975 Act for reasonable financial provision for her maintenance.

Judgement

The court found that despite the lengthy estrangement, that Miss Howe’s health needs were a significant factor for making a financial provision for her from the estate. Miss Howe’s health issues prevented her from working and were because of the treatment she received from the Deceased during her upbringing.

The court also ordered the estate to pay for Miss Howe’s white goods, car, income shortfall for 10 years, provision for her health needs which included therapy and new breast implants (she had claimed that they were essential to improve her confidence), and the costs order in respect of the initial claim Miss Howe brought to set aside the will.

In total Miss Howe was awarded £125,000 which was to be held on a discretionary trust so not to interfere with her entitlement to state benefits, it would also prevent her from spending the money unwisely.

Conclusion

There has clearly been a shift in the way in which courts are dealing with claims under the 1975 Act for reasonable financial provision from estranged adult children. This is certainly a landmark case which demonstrates what is a very complex balance that courts must find in being able to respect the wishes of the deceased but also ensuring that vulnerable claimants receive what would be considered an adequate financial provision. Whilst previously a claim by an estranged adult child may have appeared to be prima facie weak, this is clearly not the case.

This is yet another example of that when preparing your will, you need to take into consideration that adult children can successfully challenge your decision to exclude them entirely from your estate if they can provide a legitimate need.

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