The High Court has found that a deceased woman failed in her moral duty to provide for her son in her will and said he should receive €225,000 from her estate. The court directed that the sum be charged on farmland, but left the precise order and costs for a further hearing.
In a judgment delivered on 21 January 2022, Ms Justice Stack considered the son’s application under section 117 of the Succession Act 1965. The case concerned the estate of T.N., who died in 2015. Her will left a farm of about 70 acres to a nephew, subject to two sites for other nephews, and made other gifts to relatives and a friend. The residue went to her niece, who was the executrix and defendant.
The judge said the applicant had received no provision from his mother during her lifetime. He was 65 at the date of the judgment, had a modest, non-index-linked pension and, with his wife, held a home, a rented property and savings. The court considered his wife’s assets as part of their financial circumstances. It also noted their wish to help their son establish himself in adult life.
The judgment recounted evidence about the applicant’s upbringing by another family, his education and later health difficulties. It acknowledged his distress at not being welcomed into his birth family, but said those matters could not be remedied through a section 117 application. The court also rejected lost earnings as a basis for relief under that section.
The judge said the applicant faced a high burden to establish a positive failure of moral duty. She found that there was no evidence of financial dependency or another competing moral claim among the will’s beneficiaries. Although the applicant and his wife had significant assets, the court considered their income limited and took account of the applicant’s age and prospects.
The estate’s net value at death was stated as €663,998, and the judgment recorded a current net value of €778,998. The farmland, valued at about €590,000 at death, was worth about €705,000 by the hearing. The judge concluded that proper provision was a lump sum of €225,000, described as equivalent to €15,000 a year for 15 years. She said it should be charged on the farmland, without recourse to the will’s smaller bequests. The court listed the matter for an early hearing on costs and the precise order.