Rectification to exclude charities from residue

Pead v Prostate Cancer UK and Others [2023] EWHC 642 (Ch)

Sam Chandler

On 22 March 2023, the High Court handed down its decision in Pead v Prostate Cancer UK and Others [2023] EWHC 642 (Ch). These were proceedings comprising a claim to rectify the will dated 3 August 2016 of the late James McKay, who died in February 2021. The claim was an attempt by family members to exclude charitable beneficiaries from benefit on the (alleged) basis that their inclusion in such regard was a mistake amenable to rectification under s20 of the Administration of Justice Act 1982. There was also a second, subsidiary question of construction about how the residuary estate was to be divided.