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One particularly distressing circumstance in which it may be necessary to make a professional negligence claim against a solicitor is where a will has been negligently drafted or executed.
All professional will writers, solicitors or otherwise, owe a duty of care to both testators (those writing the will) and beneficiaries (those who stand to benefit from the will's execution).The duty of care owed to testators is relatively clear - however, the duty of care owed to beneficiaries has taken a number of years to be clearly defined in case law.Some of the cases which have helped pave the way for this latter duty of care are as follows:
Carr-Glynn v Frearsons - In this case the testatrix owned a property as joint tenant in equity. In her will she left her half-share to her niece. However, when the testatrix died, the property passed under the joint tenancy to the surviving joint tenant, leaving the niece disappointed. As a result the niece made a claim against the wills solicitor for breach of duty of care, despite there having been no direct relationship. She argued that that the firm had failed to ensure the joint tenancy was severed and had therefore been negligent in ensuring her aunt's wishes. The Court of Appeal ruled that the firm should have acted to ensure that it was possible for the testatrix's express wishes to be carried out.
There are many circumstances in wish it may be possible to make a negligence claim against a wills solicitor. Some of the more common circumstances are:
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