Re Ducksbury (deceased): 1996

Test for Reasonable Provision for Widow

Buckley J said: ‘it is not for me to try to effect the sort of testamentary dispositions which I think that a testator should have made or would have made had his mind not been affected, as I think it was, by his matrimonial disputes with his first wife. It is not for me to say what he ought to have done if he had been generously disposed towards the plaintiff. I have to consider what it is reasonable in the circumstances of this case to order that she should receive, having first of all satisfied myself that the testator had failed to make reasonable provision for her. He has in fact made no provision for her, and for the reasons that I have indicated I think that he was under a moral obligation to make some provision for her. I am, therefore, satisfied that he has failed to make a reasonable provision for her.’

Buckley J
[1966] 1 WLR 1226, [1966] 2 All ER 374
England and Wales
Cited by:
CitedIn Re Coventry (deceased) CA 3-Jan-1979
The deceased’s adult son sought provision from the intestate estate. The sole beneficiary under the rules was the plaintiff’s mother. The estate was modest; the intestate’s interest in his house (he had been living there with the plaintiff). The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Wills and Probate

Leading Case

Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.431724