Inheritance Act Claims, 5th edition

Edited by: Sidney Ross TEP

Reviewed by: Roman Kubiak TEP

The law often moves at a glacial pace, something that Sidney Ross TEP notes in the preface to this fifth edition of Inheritance Act Claims: ‘[in] the six years which have passed since the publication of the previous edition, there has been no further legislation’.

Despite this lack of progress, what is apparent is the sheer volume of cases that have reached the UK courts in that period and which feature in this latest edition. Indeed, and perhaps in part due to the perceived lack of progress, Inheritance Act Claims is best thought of as a detailed history of the key cases and legislative developments with extensive commentary on the previous iteration of inheritance legislation, the Inheritance (Family Provision) Act 1938.

As Sir Jonathan Cohen (retired High Court Judge, Family Division) describes in the foreword, this may help practitioners ‘find a case that will add weight to their argument’ or, as he quips, ‘explode it’.

Practitioners may therefore find its application less ‘practical’ than, say, Andrew Francis’s Inheritance Act Claims: Law, Practice and Procedure. However, for those with an academic interest in this area and who are keen to supplement the practical application of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (the Inheritance Act) with detailed contextual analyses and authorities, this is an incredibly useful and interesting resource written in an easy, conversational style.

Particular highlights include the sections on ‘Fifteen serious errors’ in Chapter 1; domicile, key words and phrases at Chapter 2; and the section in Chapter 7 dealing with claims often pleaded alongside Inheritance Act claims (although it would be helpful to have practical tips on how to plead and run such concurrent claims). Additional highlights include the precedents at Appendix 2 and the case commentaries at Appendix 6.

There is a useful section on costs. However, it notably omits reference to the new fixed costs regime (undoubtedly due to the timing of this edition and its likely limited potential application to claims under the Inheritance Act), as well as to the seminal decision in Hirachand v Hirachand,[1] which, as many will know, was heard in the Supreme Court on 18 January 2024.

Sir Cohen, who handed down the first-instance decision in Hirachand, comments in the foreword: ‘I wait nervously to see if my decision in Hirachand survives the examination which it will be given in the Supreme Court.’ So do we, Sir Cohen, so do we.