Contesting a will usually means one of two very different legal routes: arguing the will itself isn’t valid, or accepting the will is valid but arguing it doesn’t provide reasonable financial support for you. The second route runs through the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, a piece of legislation with its own eligibility rules and a genuinely unforgiving deadline.
What the 1975 Act actually does
The Act, as set out in full on legislation.gov.uk, allows the court to alter how an estate is distributed — whether under a will, the intestacy rules, or both — where it hasn’t made “reasonable financial provision” for certain categories of people connected to the deceased. Importantly, this isn’t a claim that the will is invalid or was signed under undue influence; it’s an acceptance that the will (or intestacy) is legally valid, combined with an argument that its effect on you specifically isn’t fair given your relationship to the deceased and your financial circumstances.
Who is actually allowed to claim
The Act limits eligible applicants to specific categories: a spouse or civil partner of the deceased, a former spouse or civil partner who hasn’t remarried, a person who cohabited with the deceased as a partner for at least two years immediately before death, a child of the deceased, someone treated as a child of the family (such as a stepchild), and any other person who was being maintained, wholly or partly, by the deceased immediately before death. Each category has its own test for what “reasonable financial provision” means — a spouse’s claim is generally assessed more generously than, say, an adult child’s, reflecting what they might reasonably have received on divorce rather than only what’s needed for maintenance.
The six-month time limit, and why it’s stricter than it sounds
Section 4 of the Act sets out that an application must generally be made within six months of the date representation (the grant of probate or letters of administration) is first taken out, unless the court gives permission for a late claim. Six months from a grant of probate can arrive faster than people expect, particularly where an estate is administered quickly or where a potential claimant only finds out about the will’s contents some time after the death. The court can extend the deadline, but doing so is discretionary, not automatic, and a late applicant has to persuade the court it’s justified — so treating six months as a hard deadline, and taking advice well before it, is the safer approach.
What the court weighs up
Where a claim is allowed to proceed, the court considers a set of factors including the applicant’s financial resources and needs (now and in the foreseeable future), the size of the estate, any obligations the deceased had towards the applicant and other beneficiaries, and the applicant’s conduct where relevant. There’s no fixed formula — each case turns on its specific facts, which is part of why these claims are often contested rather than settled quickly.
How this differs from challenging a will’s validity
A validity challenge argues the will itself shouldn’t stand — for example because the person lacked mental capacity, was unduly influenced, or the will wasn’t properly signed and witnessed. A 1975 Act claim doesn’t dispute any of that; it can run even where a will is unquestionably valid, on the basis that a valid will can still leave an eligible applicant without reasonable provision. The two types of claim have different tests, different evidence, and can sometimes be brought together, but they answer different legal questions.
FAQs
Does the six-month limit start from the date of death?
No. It runs from the date representation is first taken out (the grant of probate or letters of administration), not from the date of death, which can be weeks or months earlier.
Can I bring a claim before probate is granted?
Yes — the time limit only sets a deadline, it doesn’t stop a claim being issued earlier, before formal representation is taken out.
What if the deadline has already passed?
You can ask the court for permission to bring a late claim, but this is at the court’s discretion and there’s no guarantee it will be granted, particularly if the estate has already been distributed to beneficiaries.
Bottom line
A 1975 Act claim is about fairness in what you actually receive, not about attacking the will itself, and it’s only open to specific categories of applicant. The six-month clock from the grant of representation is the detail people miss most often — get advice early rather than waiting to see how estate administration unfolds.