Vicky is a Senior Associate in the Contentious Probate team, based at our Bristol office.

Vicky specialises in Will disputes, with particular experience in dealing with disputed Court of Protection property and financial affairs and health and welfare matters, for vulnerable people who lack capacity to arrange these matters themselves. She regularly advises on financial abuse cases, and has particular experience in bringing and defending Statutory Will applications for protected parties who no longer have the capacity to make a Will themselves.

She acts for a broad range of clients, including charities, professional deputies and attorneys appointed to look after the protected parties affairs, and private individuals from beneficiaries to executors and trustees. She also acted for an Independent Administrator in a long running cross-border dispute involving a contested Swiss estate in the reported case of Green v Astor [2013] EWHC 1857.

Vicky works alongside our nationally acclaimed Charities team and our Estates, Tax and Trusts team, to advise national charities, higher education institutions and Universities in respect of protecting legacies due to them. We also continue to defend a number of contested legacies for national charities and other non-profit organisations.

Examples include:

• Represented a national charity as one of 8 competing charities in a contested Statutory Will application in respect of a £19.5 million estate resolved through a successful mediation. This case required a thorough grasp of complex trust law but also extreme sensitivity to the situation given the protected parties wishes and feelings, and the impact of the application upon the various charitable beneficiaries involved.
• Advising a charity in a Will dispute concerning the application of Re Ratcliffe and Re Benham (the two approaches to calculating Inheritance Tax) and successfully resolving the dispute in favour of the charitable beneficiary so that they did not have to bear the burden of IHT.

Vicky understands how challenging and overwhelming Will and Court of Protection disputes can be for clients and their families. Vicky is well placed to assist in navigating the highly sensitive and complex issues in a dispute in a calm and approachable manner. She aims to provide her clients with the best possible chance of resolving the dispute in a cost efficient way, often avoiding costly litigation.

Vicky is based in our Bristol office, but can support you nationally.