Who is the astronomer's best mate?

Roy Panther who famously discovered the “Comet Panther” died in 2016 and a dispute has arisen about who his £400k estate passes to.

Roy was a keen amateur astronomer who had always loved space and created a homemade observatory in his home. Roy signed a will in 1986 leaving almost all of his fortune to the British Astronomical Association which he admired a lot and was a long-standing member of.  However, shortly before he passed away, he made a deathbed will in which he promised to leave his entire estate to his “best mate”.  Roy was certainly ambiguous as to who the “best mate” referred to as he did not specifically name in his new will who his “best mate” actually was!

This has prompted his lifelong friend, Alan Gibbs to bring the matter to court to try and claim that he is the “best mate” that the newer will refers to and that he should receive Roy’s entire estate.   Apparently, Roy had dictated the terms of the will to Alan for him to write it down, and so he is claiming that it was obvious that Roy had been referring as himself as the “best mate”.

The British Astronomical Association are fighting the dispute and has argued that Roy did not have mental capacity at the time of entering into the new will.  In addition, they are arguing that the “best friend” may not be Alan, as Roy did not specifically name him in his new will.

Where we could have helped

If Roy had sought professional legal advice when he wanted to put in place a will, then things may have been very different. The case is to go to court next year, six years after Roy’s passing and a lot of time and expense will have been incurred unnecessarily. If Roy had just sought proper legal advice when executing his will then his estate would have been finalised by now.  It is important when drafting a will that the terminology used is correct so as to prevent the contents of a will from being misinterpreted.

If you would like the peace of mind of knowing that your loved ones are suitably provided for under your will, or if there is anyone in particular that you do not want to inherit your estate, it is worth getting professional advice regarding what terminology to include in your will. 

What happens if you don’t write a will

Did you know that if you pass away without putting in place a will, then the rules of intestacy will apply, which are a strict set of rules which determine who will inherit your estate?  This may therefore mean that the people that you wish to inherit your estate, will not be under the rules of intestacy.

If there are doubts as to whether someone has the full mental capacity to enter into a will, then we can also obtain a Mental Capacity Report from an expert who will determine whether you or a loved one can put in place a will or not. 

This way, if there are any doubts as to whether you have capacity when you have passed away and a dispute arises in the future, we can show the court that we had a Mental Capacity Report carried out at the time of you putting in place a will. This could prevent a lot of time and monies being spent trying to defend a potential inheritance dispute.

If you would like to put in place a will then please contact one of our will specialists, I am based in our Colchester office and can be contacted on 01206 217609 or leah.woodlee@birkettlong.co.uk.