Undue influence has always been difficult to establish in the context of Wills. However, the case of Schrader v Schrader [2013] established that a Will was invalid on the basis of undue influence without having direct evidence of coercion. What is particularly interesting is that there was no factor or example of coercion which led to the Court’s decision at all. Instead, the Court considered a number of factors and the context in which the Will was written that gave rise to the Court considering that there was enough to establish undue influence. The factors the Court gave weight to include the vulnerability of the testator and the forceful personality of the beneficiary who inherited the majority of the estate.
The Court in Schrader appeared to waive the requirement for coercion, hinting that this might be the beginning of an easier way to prove undue influence in the context of Will challenges. So did this case see a change to this area of the law? The more recent decision in Rea v Rea seems to establish that it did not.
In this case, the testator had 4 children and originally made a Will in 1986 which divided her estate equally between them. When her health began to deteriorate, her daughter moved in with her. A new Will was signed in 2015, seeing the daughter receive the majority of the estate and the testator’s sons left very little. The sons were not made aware of this new Will until after the death of their mother. There was a clause in the Will which explained that the basis for this was because their mother viewed her sons as having abandoned her.
When the case came to Court in 2023, HHJ Hodge KC applied similar reasoning to Schrader and concluded that the Will was invalid based on undue influence. He looked at multiple factors, similar to those in Schrader, such as the vulnerability of the testator and the forceful personality of the daughter.
At the Court of Appeal in 2024 the decision of HHJ Hodge KC was reversed. The Court admitted the 2015 Will re-establishing the difficult process of demonstrating undue influence in the context of Wills. Rea v Rea saw the Court determine that the evidence which HHJ Hodge relied on did not entitle him to make a finding of undue influence. In a sense, this saw a return to the stance taken in respect of allegations of undue influence that was seen prior to the Schrader case return. The Court of Appeal judges cemented this by stating that potential beneficiaries are surely less likely to resort to coercion than rely on affection, gratitude or even persuasion.
The Court of Appeal also stated that HHJ Hodge gave insufficient weight to detailed notes the solicitor of the 2015 Will provided which stated that the testator was clear with her instructions and the solicitor had stopped the daughter from interrupting. The daughter was also not present at the second meeting between the 2015 solicitor and testator where amendments were made to the Will and it was then executed.
Typically, an allegation of undue influence is one of the hardest grounds on which to challenge the validity of a Will. There is often little direct evidence of undue influence, and the coercion that has been applied occurs in private.
That said, claims on this ground do succeed and so if you are concerned that a Will might be invalid as a result of undue influence, contact our expert team and we will be pleased to talk to you about your situation. We can discuss the evidence that might be needed and consider if there are any other grounds on which the validity of the Will could be called into question.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Max Campbell on[javascript protected email address][javascript protected email address] for further information.
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