Court & Ors v Despallieres

A will is revoked by the formation of a civil partnership unless the statutory exception applies. The exception requires the will itself to show both that, when it was made, the testator expected to form a civil partnership with a particular person and that the testator intended the will to survive that partnership. A general provision stating that the will is not revoked by marriage, civil partnership or adoption is insufficient. A gift to the prospective partner does not cure the defect unless the will links the gift to the non-revocation provision.

The claimants sought summary judgment on whether a will purportedly made before the deceased entered a civil partnership was revoked by that partnership. The defendant relied on a clause stating that the will should not be revoked by a subsequent marriage, civil partnership or adoption. The parties agreed that, for this issue, the will was genuine, the deceased was domiciled in England and Wales, and he intended to enter the civil partnership. The issue was whether the clause satisfied the statutory exception to revocation.

1. Summary judgment. The court determined the issue of law in favour of the claimants. The defendant accepted that, if the issue were decided against him, the grant would have to be revoked.
2. Statutory requirements. Under section 18B(1) of the Wills Act 1837, subject to the statutory exceptions, a will is revoked by the formation of a civil partnership. Section 18B(3) requires it to appear from the will that, when it was made, the testator expected to form a civil partnership with a particular person and intended that the will should not be revoked by that formation.
3. The court accepted that construction, which was supported by the wording of the provision, the Law Reform Committee’s 22nd Report on The Making and Revocation of Wills, and Williams on Wills.
4. The clause stating that the will should not be revoked by subsequent marriage, civil partnership or adoption was merely general. It did not show that the deceased expected to form a civil partnership, still less one with a particular person. The gift of the whole estate to the defendant did not assist, because the will contained no indication of a connection between that gift and the non-revocation clause.
5. It followed that the will was revoked by the civil partnership and that the grant must be revoked. The court indicated that an administrator of the deceased’s English estate might appropriately be appointed under section 117 of the Senior Courts Act 1981, subject to consequential orders being agreed or argued.