The High Court has ruled that a missing original will belonging to Dublin woman Mary Eastwood was probably never sent to her, meaning the legal presumption that she destroyed it intending to revoke it does not apply.
Eastwood died in December 2018 aged 85. She had made a will in November 2016 appointing two of her children, Robert and Jennifer Eastwood, as executors and leaving seven residential properties among her five children.
The original will was initially held by Lawlor Partners solicitors. In January 2018, Eastwood wrote asking for copies of documents held about her. A few days later, an envelope arrived containing copies of her will and enduring power of attorney.
After her death, however, the original will could not be found either at her home or in the solicitors' office. A computer copy of a January 18, 2018 letter appeared to state that the originals had been sent to her by ordinary post.
Three of Eastwood's children opposed admitting the copy will to probate. They relied on the longstanding presumption that if a testator had possession of an original will and it cannot be found after death, the will is presumed to have been destroyed with the intention of revoking it.
Mr Justice Oisín Quinn found on February 6, 2026 that, on the balance of probabilities, the original will never left the solicitors' office.
The solicitor who prepared the will accepted that sending an original will and enduring power of attorney by ordinary post would have been highly irregular, that office procedure required originals leaving the safe to be recorded, and that no such contemporaneous record existed. He also accepted that copies having already been sent made it unlikely that the originals were sent as well.
The court therefore held that Eastwood never had possession of the original will after execution. The presumption of revocation does not arise. The court said it would hear the parties on the consequences and any further orders.