Freedom to test? Family provision and decisions limiting freedom of post-mortem disposition in English Law
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.19135/revista.consinter.00018.44Keywords:
Freedom to test, Family Provision, Succession, Legitimate Succession, Common LawAbstract
This paper aims to investigate the extent of freedom to test in the English legal system. To this end, an analysis of the legislation, doctrine and jurisprudence is made, seeking to assess how recent court decisions have impacted on the freedom of the deceased to dispose of their property after death. At the end, we conclude that, in view of the absence of minimum objective parameters for the determination of the family provision in favor of the beneficiaries, the decisions may sometimes tend in favor of the testator's freedom, sometimes in favor of the claimant's demands, which causes great legal insecurity. Exactly for this reason, it is necessary to establish minimum objective criteria to be observed by the Judiciary, in order to standardize these decisions to promote the expected balance between the private autonomy of the inheritor and the protection of his economic dependents.
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