Disinheritance ruling: daughter successfully challenges charitable legacies
Simon George | 28 July 2015 | Blogs
Today’s ruling by the Court of Appeal in favour of a woman cut out of her mother’s will when she left her estate to three charities may be a landmark that sets a new precedent.
Although not specifically about legacies to charity, the ruling could affect those cases each year where an individual has disinherited their family in favour of one or more charities.
In this instance, Melita Jackson left all her £486,000 estate to the RSPCA, RSPB and Blue Cross in 2004. In so doing, she cut out her daughter Heather Ilot, from whom she had been estranged since 1978. The daughter has successfully challenged the will and been awarded £164,000 or a third of the estate. This is unusual, in that previously a successful claim could only be made where it could be shown that the person challenging the will had been financially reliant on the deceased person (which was not the case here).
While the ruling will not prevent people from cutting relatives out of their will, it does mean they will now have to be very careful to document and justify their decision and demonstrate their reasons for supporting charities instead.
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How might this affect charities?
So what are the implications for charities? It is possible that this ruling will reduce the number of contentious legacies they receive. Although this could mean less money for charities, the upside is that it could also mean fewer PR battles to avoid the negative publicity that can sometimes arise in these cases. We all remember the RSPCA’s battle over the Gill case and the publicity that generated.
There seem to be no direct implications for legacy marketing. After all, not many charities have openly encouraged supporters to disinherit family members (though many may have secretly hoped for this). In fact, the ruling seems to chime well with the prevailing theme of “family first”, whereby charities encourage donors to provide for their loved ones, before remembering the charity in their will. This is clearly the responsible path to follow and today’s ruling only supports this.
Simon George is a Director of Wootton George Consulting
About Simon George
Simon George, BSc (hons) FInstF (dip) FRSA is a Director of Wootton George Consulting and has been fundraising since 1987. He has special interests in fundraising strategy, legacies and charitable trusts. A longstanding member of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, he founded its Trusts and Statutory Special Interest Group in 1999 and was also the first Chair of the IoF’s West Midlands region. He has written two e-books on legacies and grant fundraising, published by SPMFundessentials and has achieved the Diploma in Fundraising Management. In 2010 he was made a Fellow of the Institute of Fundraising. Today he manages a team of 20 fundraising consultants around the UK.