Court of Appeal redefines test for standing to challenge a Will

Despite not being a beneficiary of his late mother-in-law's Will, the Court of Appeal has allowed Mr Randall to challenge its validity. 

In doing so, the Court overruled Deputy Master Collaço Moraes who decided that Mr Randall did not have sufficient interest in the will and therefore had no standing to bring a claim.

The Court held that the Deputy Master was "wrong to assimilate the position of a creditor of a beneficiary of an estate with that of a creditor of an estate". In his judgment, the Master of the Rolls confirmed that a creditor of an estate does not have sufficient interest in an estate to bring a probate claim but distinguished this from the position of a creditor of a beneficiary.  He said that "the interest of the creditor of a beneficiary is to ensure that the beneficiary receives what is due to him or her under the will or on an intestacy. The interest of a creditor of an estate is to ensure that there is due administration of the estate". 

The Master of the Rolls confirmed that "whether a person has a good claim is a question of substantive law. Whether he has the right to bring his claim before a court is a question of procedure".