The rise of contentious probate claims

With the number of contested probate claims seemingly increasing in prevalence, a Freedom of Information request made by Birketts LLP’s private wealth disputes team highlighted the numbers behind the claims and the reasons why claims are on the rise.
 
It has been a long-held belief by legal practitioners that contentious probate claims have been steadily increasing over the past 15 years. This rise can be felt internally by legal practitioners but can also be seen externally through the increase in teams dedicated to resolving contested probate matters; the specialist private wealth disputes team at Birketts LLP, for example, has more than doubled in size in the past five years to meet the increased demand in contested probate claims.
 
What can be felt and seen can also be quantified. When a Will is being contested, the first act is to typically enter a ‘caveat’. A caveat stops an executor from being able to admit a Will to probate. The rationale behind this is that, if the Will is successfully contested, the executor may not be the correct executor, and the correct testamentary wishes are likely to be different.

The quantification

Birketts LLP, therefore, made a Freedom of Information request of the Probate Registry to obtain figures for the number of caveats since 2010. These figures can be seen below.
 
Table A: Caveats per quarter (2010-2025)
 


Table B: Caveats per year (2010-2025)
 

 
From these figures, it is clear that contested probate claims are on the rise. The average year-on-year growth over this period is 4.59%. However, over the past five years, this number is much higher at 6.20%, with 2023 being the first year that the number of caveats entered surpassing 10,000 and 2025 totalling 11,328 caveats. The number of caveats is clearly growing at incredible rates, and it seems like there are no signs of it slowing down; Q1 and Q4 2025 represent the second‑largest Q1 and Q4 recorded respectively since 2010 (both beaten by the 2024 statistics), while Q2 and Q3 2025 are the largest Q2 and Q3 figures on record.

The cause

What is it that has caused this growth? Barny Croft of Birketts LLP said: “The generational wealth gap is certainly playing a part in the rise in will disputes, but there are many factors at play: an ageing population, increased life expectancy, more people living with dementia, complex family structures, high value assets, badly drafted Wills, and an increasing number of bad lawyers encouraging people to pursue lousy cases, are just some of them.”

Ageing population

By all accounts, people in the UK are living longer. The House of Commons Library stated: “In 2022, there were around 12.7 million people aged 65 or over in the UK, making up 19% of the population… By contrast, 50 years ago in 1972, there were around 7.5 million people aged 65 or over, or 13% of the population.”
 
However, with a longer life comes an increased risk of illnesses which affect testamentary capacity, the greater likelihood of re-marriages, and the increased susceptibility to influence.
 
According to Alzheimer’s Research UK, “the biggest risk factor for dementia is age”.
 
Therefore, as we see the age of our population increase, there are more people creating Wills who may have dementia and/or are showing dementia-like symptoms. This gives someone seeking to contest a Will a strong argument to say that a testator did not have testamentary capacity when making their Will and that it is, therefore, invalid.
 
Predatory marriages and the increase in tension in blended families also significantly contributes to the number of claims against the validity of Wills. On the one hand, you have examples of disputes stemming from a testator receiving money from their spouse, re-marrying later in life, and giving some of this money to their new family rather than to their family with their deceased spouse. The case of McLean v McLean [2023] EWHC 1863​​ represents this point well. On the other hand, you have predatory marriages whereby a younger person seeks to take advantage of an elderly testator to influence them into leaving them their estate.
 
Finally, as we age, we tend to become more vulnerable and reliant on others. As referred to above, this vulnerability can be exploited by predatory marriages, but it is not just spouses that can influence a testator; individuals who have taken control of a testator’s care are in prime position to exert influence on them to change their Will, for example.

Badly drafted Wills

The significant rise in the number of caveats from 2019 to 2021 (a 36.57% increase) coincides with the rise in Will making during the Covid-19 lockdown. In a survey conducted by the Law Gazette in June 2020, “7% of respondents said they had made or updated their will during the first UK-wide lockdown”. Given that those making Wills could not see their solicitors face to face, many of the Wills drafted in this period were either homemade Wills or Wills prepared by a solicitor with limited interaction with the testator. These Wills are, therefore, more likely to contain errors, not accurately reflect the testators wishes, and/or suffer from the fact that a solicitor/medical expert were unable to assess testamentary capacity and/or if there is any undue influence in the normal way. Birketts LLP’s case of Leonard v Leonard [2024] EWHC 321 highlights this fact. It is likely that the effects of the Wills made during lockdown will be felt for many years to come.

The Birketts view

Contested probate claims are undoubtedly on the rise, and for good reason. As life expectancy increases, so does the propensity for a testator to lack testamentary capacity or find themselves in a vulnerable position where they can be influenced. Combined with the rise of poor wills, re-marriages, and predatory marriages, it is unlikely that this rise is going to slow down any time soon. If you have any concerns that a will is invalid, please contact our private wealth disputes team at Birketts LLP, a specialist team of lawyers dealing with will disputes.