Wedlake Bell has recently successfully acted for the claimant in a reported case in the High Court for the rectification of a Will (Austin v Woodward and another [2011] EWHC 2458 (Ch)).
The facts were that the testatrix, Mrs A, had instructed her solicitors to prepare an updated Will for her to execute in 2003. In drafting that Will, the solicitor had mistakenly included words from the firm's precedent which meant that the final Will did not reflect Mrs A's wishes. As a consequence of the mistake, Mrs A's daughter did not inherit the family home outright, which had been what Mrs A had clearly intended. Mrs A's daughter instructed Wedlake Bell to bring an application on her behalf for the rectification of the Will.
The High Court held that this was clearly a clerical error on the part of the solicitor drafting the Will and that the Will could therefore be rectified under section 20(1) of the Administration of Justice Act 1982. The gift of the house to Mrs A's daughter was given effect, as Mrs A had originally intended.
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