Judgment has today been handed down in Leonard v Leonard [2024] EWHC 321(ChD) after a 12-day trial before Mrs Justice Joanna Smith DBE

Constance McDonnell KC and George Vare, assisted by Anneliese Mondschein, acted on behalf of the successful Claimants in this contested probate claim (instructed by Bernadette Baker, Kate Harris, and Anna Lambert of Birketts LLP).

The Claimants successfully argued that the Deceased neither had testamentary capacity at the time of executing a purported final will, nor knew and approved of its contents. The comprehensive judgment of Mrs Justice Joanna Smith DBE will no doubt be of interest to practitioners in this field, in particular as regards the court’s approach to medical expert evidence in such cases, and the operation of limbs 1 and 4 of Banks v Goodfellow.