Jonathan Davis acts for claimants in contested mutual wills case

Who? Jonathan Davis, 56-year-old dispute resolution partner at Berkshire firm Clifton Ingram.

Why is he in the news? Acted for the claimants in what is claimed to be only the third successfully contested mutual wills case in the last 80 years. In 1991, sisters Ethel Willson and Mabel Cook made mutual (or mirror) wills each leaving their assets to the other, on condition that the second to die would leave their combined estate to certain friends, godchildren and relatives.

Cook died in 1995 and all assets passed to Willson. However, after her death in 2006, it became apparent that she had written a new will naming the sisters’ hairdresser, Jill Fraser, as the main beneficiary of the £400,000 estate.

Contesting the new will, the original beneficiaries told the high court that the sisters had agreed on the form of their wills and regarded them as binding.

In finding for the claimants, deputy high court judge Jonathan Gaunt QC said there was ‘considerable and consistent evidence from close friends and relatives of the sisters that the wills had been made subject to an agreement between the sisters and that it was part of that agreement that the gifts on the death of the survivor were not to be changed.’

Surrey firm Brett-Holt, which acted for Fraser, declined to comment.

Thoughts on the case: ‘Ethel Willson radically changed her will a few months before she died.

‘She was helped by a solicitor, who had obtained a medical opinion that she had the requisite mental capacity to do so. Nonetheless, we were able to argue that the agreement made between the sisters 15 years earlier should be recognised.

‘This is probably only the third time that such an outcome has been achieved in 80 years.’

Dealing with the media: ‘What struck me most was the comments online. Most people thought Ethel Willson was entitled to disregard her agreement with her sister and leave her estate to anyone she wanted.’