Private client · Private client fee-earner, executor, contentious probate team
Assess the risk of an Inheritance Act claim
A will leaves the entire estate to a charity and excludes an adult daughter who provided care for three years. The executors want to know the risk before they distribute, because distributing early is what turns a risk into a personal liability.
- Agents
- Research, Litigation & Disputes
- First draft
- A structured risk assessment comes back from one run, well inside the six-month window.
The problem
Step 01 of 05
Open the matter with the dates
The date of the grant is recorded as the key date the limitation period runs from, with the will, the estate accounts and the daughter's letter of claim uploaded.
Project Halcyon: SPA warranties and disclosure
Buy-side warranty review, disclosure analysis and cited due-diligence grid.
- Client
- Halcyon Bidco Ltd
- Reference
- WC-2026-0412
- Practice area
- Corporate / M&A
- Jurisdiction
- England and Wales
- Responsible partner
- E. Vance
No conflict check on file.Chat, on this matter
Compare warranties with the disclosure letter.
Three high-priority exceptions require action: the unregistered charge, the change-of-control right and the tribunal claim.
Send a message… (@ to mention tools)BalancedPrepare for- 25 Aug
Disclosure exceptions matrix
Chat
- 21 Aug
Disclosure exceptions matrix
Run · completed · 560 credits
- 18 Aug
Project Halcyon: Disclosure Letter
Document · indexed
- 16 Aug
Project Halcyon: Share Purchase Agreement
Document · indexed
- 4 Aug
Matter opened
Opened
Step 02 of 05
Ask the eligibility question
Which category of applicant the daughter falls into, what the relevant standard of provision is, and how the care she provided bears on the factors.
Matter: 14 Rowan CourtEngland and WalesResearch AgentPrepare for: Court-Ready · Deliver as: WordWhere we looked
- 1Your documentsLease, demand, correspondence
- 2Primary law3 statutes, 1 judgment
- 3Regulators and the recordNothing needed
- 4Web searchOff for this question
Authorities · 4
- 1not yet checked
Law of Property Act 1925, s 146
c 20 - 2not yet checked
Housing Act 1996, s 81
c 52 - 3not yet checked
Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, s 168
c 15 - 4not yet checked
Escalus Properties Ltd v Robinson
[1996] QB 231 (CA)
Step 03 of 05
Apply the factors
Prepare for: Work-Stream Memo. Each statutory factor is applied to the facts on the file, with the gaps in the evidence named rather than filled.
Agent
Jurisdiction
Prepare for
Deliver as
Instruction
What should the agent look for?Documents
Drop a contract, or pick one from the matter
Also on the matter
- Offer_letter_v3.pdf2 pages
- Staff_handbook_2025.docx61 pages
- Board_minute_14_Aug.pdf3 pages
Platform model · zero data retention · audit register onStep 04 of 05
Read the risk and the timing
The memo states the risk as real but not high on the current evidence, and warns in terms against distributing before the six-month period expires.
6 items need your confirmation14 authorities · Where we lookedSenior Associate Employment Contract: English Law Review
Summary
- 1.
Clause 9(c), non-competeHigh
The 12-month prohibition on working for any law firm anywhere in the UK, Ireland or EU, in any capacity, is almost certainly wider than reasonably necessary and therefore unlikely to be enforceable.
Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd [2019] UKSC 32 - 2.
Clause 11, data and monitoringHigh
Blanket contractual consent is not an adequate basis for general employment processing, special-category data or unrestricted monitoring.
UK GDPR, Arts 6 and 9 - 3.
Clause 4, holiday carry-overHigh
The unconditional five-day cap conflicts with mandatory carry-over rights where sickness, statutory leave or employer failure prevents leave being taken.
Working Time Regulations 1998, regs 13 to 13A
- 1.
Step 05 of 05
Sign off and record
The partner ticks the items, and the run is written to the audit register so the executors can show the advice they took before distributing.
5 of 8 entries · digest sha-256Time Who Type Entry Matter 09:36 j.okafor Document Disclosure_letter_v4.docx uploaded · 18 pages HAL-2026-0031 09:30 e.vance Conflict check Conflict check on open · no matches across 38 matters RC-2026-0009 09:12 admin Member p.hartley added · role: Associate · 4 matters Workspace 08:55 r.chen Run Due Diligence Agent · review grid · 12 documents HAL-2026-0031 08:40 r.chen Verification Verify all · 6 authorities · 6 verified HAL-2026-0031 Exports carry a content digest so a reviewer can confirm nothing was edited after the fact.
What comes back
A document, not a transcript.
- The applicant category and the standard of provision that applies, stated with the reasoning.
- Each statutory factor applied to the facts on the file, with the evidential gaps named.
- A dated warning about distribution, tied to the six-month period running from the grant.
- Open questions on the daughter's financial position, which the estate papers do not answer.
Authorities it checks
- Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, s 1
- Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, s 3
- Ilott v The Blue Cross [2017] UKSC 17
What it does not do
- It does not predict the outcome of a claim, and it says so in the summary rather than in a footnote.
- It does not negotiate with the daughter's solicitors or make an offer.
- It does not advise the executors to distribute or withhold; it sets out the exposure and leaves the decision with them.