Undue Influence

A will sets out the wishes of a person as to what happens to their estate after their death. It is, therefore, an extremely important document. It’s a sobering fact that many of us are worth much more dead than alive, particularly with increasing house prices and insurances such as ‘death in service’ benefit. With that in mind, a minority of unscrupulous people may believe they can affect who gets what! 

In most cases, we can be sure that a will accurately reflects the will maker’s genuine wishes, especially if it has been prepared by a solicitor. However, there are instances when this is not the case, particularly if the will maker was influenced by someone else as to what they put in their will. 

Undue influence is where a person exerts pressure on a will maker to such an extent that the will maker feels they are unable to make their will according to their own wishes. It is true that even those with strong characters can be influenced by others in certain circumstances, but it is only when there has been undue influence that the will is considered to be invalid.

Test yourself

As a little test, which of the following examples would you think amounts to undue influence?

Scenario 1

Alan is trying to persuade his mum, Amelia, that she should leave money in her will to his son, Dan. Alan points out that she is leaving money to her other grandchildren, and it would be unfair to leave Dan out.

Scenario 2

Jane constantly asks her elderly father, Arthur, to change his will and leave everything to her, even though his existing will leaves everything to his grandchildren. Jane says she will not help care for him if he doesn’t and he’ll have to go into a care home.

In the first scenario, Alan is exerting a form of influence, but not undue influence. Heis not forcing his mother to change her will, he is simply trying to persuade her to be fair to all her grandchildren, including Dan. She can listen to his view but disregard it, if she so choses.

The second scenario is very different and could be considered a form of undue influence. Although similar, in that Jane has asked her dad to change his will, she is doing so under threat, which might mean he can no longer stay in the comfort of his own home. Arthur wants his grandchildren to benefit rather than Jane, but she wants to change those wishes completely in her favour. Arthur may feel that he has no choice but to do as she asks.

There is often a fine line between undue influence and persuasion. In most cases, such conversations take place in private, behind closed doors. However, in the recent case involving the Estate of Julie Harrison, there was sufficient evidence to reveal the true position.

Estate of Julie Harrison

Candice Harrison, daughter of Julie Harrison, was recently successful in her claim of undue influence against her cousin, Jonathan Greenwood. Candice relied on video footage taken from cameras she had installed secretly and which recorded Jonathon’s interaction with Julie, who suffered from dementia. From the recordings, Candice discovered that Jonathon persuaded Julie to leave him a share of her £2.5 million fortune.

Julie’s previous will leave everything to Candice but in 2017, as a result of Jonathon’s conduct she changed it to leave him £400,0000. The Judge ruled that the 2017 will did not reflect Julie’s true wishes and that she had been a victim of Jonathon’s “campaign of influence, which amounted to undue influence”.

Even in the light of the above, there are seldom causes for concern about the provisions of a will. But there are rare instances where the will does not reflect the true wishes of the deceased. If you suspect that a relative or friend may have been influenced into changing their will, our inheritance disputes team can provide specialist advice on whether a claim of undue influence might be successful.