Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1975 c. 63 |
Inheritance (Provision forFamily and Dependants)Act 1975
1975 CHAPTER 63
An Act to make fresh provision for empowering the court to make orders for the making out of the estate of a deceased person of provision for the spouse, former spouse, child, child of the family or dependant of that person; and for matters connected therewith.
[12th November 1975]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Application for financial provision from deceased's estate.
(1) Where after the commencement of this Act a person dies domiciled in England and Wales and is survived by any of the following persons:—
(a ) the wife or husband of the deceased;
(b ) a former wife or former husband of the deceased who has not remarried;
(c ) a child of the deceased;
(d ) any person (not being a child of the deceased) who, in the case of any marriage to which the deceased was at any time a party, was treated by the deceased as a child of the family in relation to that marriage;
(e ) any person (not being a person included in the foregoing paragraphs of this subsection) who immediately before the death of the deceased was being maintained, either wholly or partly, by the deceased;
that person may apply to the court for an order under section 2 of this Act on the ground that the disposition of the deceased's estate effected by his will or the law relating to intestacy, or the combination of his will and that law, is not such as to make reasonable financial provision for the applicant.
(2) In this Act ‘reasonable financial provision’—
(a ) in the case of an application made by virtue of subsection (1)(a ) above by the husband or wife of the deceased (except where the marriage with the deceased was the subject of a decree of judicial separation and at the date of death the decree was in force and the separation was continuing), means such financial provision as it would be reasonable in all the circumstances of the case for a husband or wife to receive, whether or not that provision is required for his or her maintenance;
(b ) in the case of any other application made by virtue of subsection (1) above, means such financial provision as it would be reasonable in all the circumstances of the case for the applicant to receive for his maintenance.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (1)(e ) above, a person shall be treated as being maintained by the deceased, either wholly or partly, as the case may be, if the deceased, otherwise than for full valuable consideration, was making a substantial contribution in money or money's worth towards the reasonable needs of that person.
2 Powers of court to make orders.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, where an application is made for an order under this section, the court may, if it is satisfied that the disposition of the deceased's estate effected by his will or the law relating to intestacy, or the combination of his will and that law, is not such as to make reasonable financial provision for the applicant, make any one or more of the following orders:—
(a ) an order for the making to the applicant out of the net estate of the deceased of such periodical payments and for such term as may be specified in the order;
(b ) an order for the payment to the applicant out of that estate of a lump sum of such amount as may be so specified;
(c ) an order for the transfer to the applicant of such property comprised in that estate as may be so specified;
(d ) an order for the settlement for the benefit of the applicant of such property comprised in that estate as may be so specified;
(e ) an order for the acquisition out of property comprised in that estate of such property as may be so specified and for the transfer of the property so acquired to the applicant or for the settlement thereof for his benefit;
(f ) an order varying any ante-nuptial or post-nuptial settlement (including such a settlement made by will) made on the parties to a marriage to which the deceased was one of the parties, the variation being for the benefit of the surviving party to that marriage, or any child of that marriage, or any person who was treated by the deceased as a child of the family in relation to that marriage.
(2) An order under subsection (1)(a ) above providing for the making out of the net estate of the deceased of periodical payments may provide for—
(a ) payments of such amount as may be specified in the order,
(b ) payments equal to the whole of the income of the net estate or of such portion thereof as may be so specified,
(c ) payments equal to the whole of the income of such part of the net estate as the court may direct to be set aside or appropriated for the making out of the income thereof of payments under this section,
or may provide for the amount of the payments or any of them to be determined in any other way the court thinks fit.
(3) Where an order under subsection (1)(a ) above provides for the making of payments of an amount specified in the order, the order may direct that such part of the net estate as may be so specified shall be set aside or appropriated for the making out of the income thereof of those payments; but no larger part of the net estate shall be so set aside or appropriated than is sufficient, at the date of the order, to produce by the income thereof the amount required for the making of those payments.
(4) An order under this section may contain such consequential and supplemental provisions as the court thinks necessary or expedient for the purpose of giving effect to the order or for the purpose of securing that the order operates fairly as between one beneficiary of the estate of the deceased and another and may, in particular, but without prejudice to the generality of this subsection—
(a ) order any person who holds any property which forms part of the net estate of the deceased to make such payment or transfer such property as may be specified in the order;
(b ) vary the disposition of the deceased's estate effected by the will or the law relating to intestacy, or by both the will and the law relating to intestacy, in such manner as the court thinks fair and reasonable having regard to the provisions of the order and all the circumstances of the case;
(c ) confer on the trustees of any property which is the subject of an order under this section such powers as appear to the court to be necessary or expedient.
3 Matters to which court is to have regard in exercising powers under s. 2.
(1) Where an application is made for an order under section 2 of this Act, the court shall, in determining whether the disposition of the deceased's estate effected by his will or the law relating to intestacy, or the combination of his will and that law, is such as to make reasonable financial provision for the applicant and, if the court considers that reasonable financial provision has not been made, in determining whether and in what manner it shall exercise its powers under that section, have regard to the following matters, that is to say—
(a ) the financial resources and financial needs which the applicant has or is likely to have in the foreseeable future;
(b ) the financial resources and financial needs which any other applicant for an order under section 2 of this Act has or is likely to have in the foreseeable future;
(c ) the financial resources and financial needs which any beneficiary of the estate of the deceased has or is likely to have in the foreseeable future;
(d ) any obligations and responsibilities which the deceased had towards any applicant for an order under the said section 2 or towards any beneficiary of the estate of the deceased;
(e ) the size and nature of the net estate of the deceased;
(f ) any physical or mental disability of any applicant for an order under the said section 2 or any beneficiary of the estate of the deceased;
(g ) any other matter, including the conduct of the applicant or any other person, which in the circumstances of the case the court may consider relevant.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (g ) of subsection (1) above, where an application for an order under section 2 of this Act is made by virtue of section 1(1)(a ) or 1(1)(b ) of this Act, the court shall, in addition to the matters specifically mentioned in paragraphs (a ) to (f ) of that subsection, have regard to—
(a ) the age of the applicant and the duration of the marriage;
(b ) the contribution made by the applicant to the welfare of the family of the deceased, including any contribution made by looking after the home or caring for the family;
and, in the case of an application by the wife or husband of the deceased, the court shall also, unless at the date of death a decree of judicial separation was in force and the separation was continuing, have regard to the provision which the applicant might reasonably have expected to receive if on the day on which the deceased died the marriage, instead of being terminated by death, had been terminated by a decree of divorce.
(3) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (g ) of subsection (1) above, where an application for an order under section 2 of...
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