Outpourings of grief which follow from the death of a loved one can occasionally appear less than sincere the moment the contents of the Will become known - or indeed before they are known. Claims based on disputed Wills have been on the increase over recent years and there are perhaps three main reasons for this.

By far the majority of claims involve a second marriage/family, itself an increasing social phenomenon, and resentful children by an earlier relationship or marriage. Not infrequently, who scoops the pot will depend on which party to the second marriage dies first, since there is usually nothing to prevent the survivor then changing his or her Will - perhaps years later - to leave the combined estates of the former couple either to his or her own children by an earlier marriage, or to the children of the second marriage, to the exclusion of those of the first-to-die's first marriage, with whom there might have been very little love lost.

Another important factor is that medical science has not managed to increase mental lives at quite the same rate as physical ones. There are ever larger numbers of elderly and mentally frail people, which inevitably means that changes in Wills occur when the testamentary capacity of testators is more doubtful - be it a reasoned and sensible change, an irrational or short-term whim or at the instigation of the family gold-digger!

Finally, as house prices have risen well above inflation in recent years, elderly people who perhaps have not been income-wealthy while alive have, upon death, left a substantial estate. Combined with the primeval jealousies which frequently attend the death of a family member, this alone creates fertile territory for such claims, which can therefore be particularly difficult to settle.