Jones, Re
2014
COURT OF PROTECTION
United Kingdom
CORAM
- District Judge Eldergill
Areas of Law
- Family Law
- Probate and Succession
- Equity and Trusts
2014
COURT OF PROTECTION
United Kingdom
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
Mr Jones, suffering from dementia and living abroad, requires a statutory Will due to incapacity. His deputies apply for this while his daughter Anne contests for a larger lifetime gift. The court considers the best interests of Mr. Jones, emphasizing his past and present wishes, ensuring fair estate division, and providing for immediate needs such as his daughter's financial struggles. Ultimately, the statutory Will included a larger lifetime gift for his daughter and adequate provision for his spouse.
JUDGMENT
Application by the wife and deputy of an incapacitated person for the execution of a statutory Will — Whether to make provision for his daughter by a previous relationship with whom he had had limited contact — Relevance and application of the principle that the incapacitated person would wish to be remembered as having done ‘the right thing’ by their Will — Onset of mental incapacity not an opportunity for moral correction
§1 — FORMAT AND HEADINGS
This judgment is structured under the following headings:
§1 — Format and Headings Page 1 §2 — Introduction Page 2 §3 — Parties Page 3 §4 — Capacity Page 4 §5 — Domicile Page 4 §6 — Relevant History Page 4 §7 — Mr Jones’ Estate Page 5 §8 — Mr Jones’ Care & Other Living Costs Page 6 §9 — Mr Jones’ Income Page 7 §10 — Testamentary History Page 7 §11 — Effect of Mr Jones Dying Intestate Page 7 §12 — The Issues to be Resolved & Decisions to be Made Page 7 §13 — Relevant Law Page 9 §14 — Documentary Evidence Page 16 §15 — Oral Evidence Page 16 §16 — Best Interests Findings Page 17 §17 — Summary & Conclusion Page 23 §18 — Other Matters Page 24
§2 — INTRODUCTION
This is an application, under section 18(1)(i) of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 for authority to execute a statutory will on behalf of Mr Peter Jones (‘Mr Jones’).
The Applicants are Mr Jones’s joint and several deputies for property and affairs, namely his wife Susan Jones (‘Mrs Jones’) and Roy Mathias (‘Mr Mathias’) who is a solicitor. They were appointed as Mr Jones’s joint property and financial affairs deputies by District Judge SE Rogers on 12 August 2013.
There is also now an application notice dated 15 September 2014 before the court filed by Mr Jones’s daughter, Anne Dawson (‘Ms Dawson’), in which she seeks approval of a life-time gift to her from Mr Jones’s estate.
Ms Dawson is Mr Jones’s only child. She is the child of a former relationship and Mrs Jones is not her mother.
Mr Jones also has siblings, nephews and nieces [Family tree, Tab 1 page 27].
Mr Jones suffers from dementia. There is no dispute that he lacks testamentary capacity and capacity to make significant lifetime gifts.
He currently resides in a country in the Mediterranean having been taken there by Mrs Jones on 28 March 2014. The trip was initially presented as a holiday but Mrs Jones has no intention of returning him to the UK.
Before then he was residing in a care home in London, having been discharged there from hospital.
§3 — PARTIES
The parties to the appl