This means that, in certain circumstances, beneficiaries who have not received what the deceased intended may well have a legal claim against the adviser who prepared the Will.
A recent case [Herring and Hartley v Shorts Financial Services LLP] has highlighted how this principle can operate.
Facts of the case
Moral of the story
It will be important for the person preparing the Will to make sure that they have full details about the client’s affairs and thoroughly check the information that they are given with the financial adviser, accountant and any other professional assisting the client.
Where the client owns property, it will be prudent to obtain copies of the deeds to be clear as to how it is owned. In an earlier case [Carr-Glynn v Frearsons] the client owned property jointly with someone else which passed automatically on her death to the surviving joint owner. The solicitor did not check to make sure that the client’s share would pass under her Will as the client wished.
Although Mr Sully (the financial adviser) was not found to have been negligent, he could have saved himself considerable time and expense if he had given clear details to the solicitor which would, hopefully, have avoided the problems altogether.
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