Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) Wills, Trusts and Estate Administration (FLK2) Syllabus

Wills, Trusts and Estate Administration (FLK2) syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Wills, Trusts and Estate Administration (FLK2) in Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Wills and Intestacy

   4 topics

   • Validity and execution of wills
     • Formal requirements (s 9 Wills Act 1837)
     • Testamentary capacity and intention
     • Revocation, alteration and revival
   • Interpretation and failure of gifts
     • Ademption and lapse
     • Class gifts and survivorship clauses
   • Intestacy rules
     • Statutory order of entitlement
     • The statutory legacy and partial intestacy
   • Provision for family and dependants
     • Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975
     • Eligible applicants and reasonable provision
2. 2

   Administration of Estates

   3 topics

   • Personal representatives
     • Executors and administrators
     • Powers, duties and liabilities of PRs
   • Obtaining the grant of representation
     • Grant of probate and letters of administration
     • Application procedure and supporting documents
     • Caveats and citations
   • Collecting and distributing the estate
     • Paying debts and the order of application of assets
     • Distribution to beneficiaries and estate accounts
     • Protection against claims (s 27 Trustee Act 1925)
3. 3

   Trusts

   3 topics

   • Creation and types of trust
     • The three certainties
     • Express, resulting and constructive trusts
     • Constitution of trusts
   • Trustees: powers and duties
     • Duty of care and investment duties
     • Powers of maintenance and advancement
     • Delegation and appointment of trustees
   • Breach of trust and remedies
     • Personal and proprietary remedies
     • Tracing
     • Liability of strangers to the trust
4. 4

   Inheritance Tax and Estate Planning

   3 topics

   • Inheritance tax framework
     • Chargeable transfers and the death estate
     • Nil rate band and residence nil rate band
     • Lifetime transfers (PETs and LCTs)
   • Exemptions and reliefs
     • Spouse and charity exemptions
     • Business and agricultural property relief
   • Calculation and payment of IHT
     • Cumulation and grossing up
     • Payment, instalments and the IHT account

Wills, Trusts and Estate Administration (FLK2) flashcards for Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE)

24 of 61 cards from the Wills, Trusts and Estate Administration (FLK2) deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What are the three core requirements for a valid will under section 9 of the Wills Act 1837?

   (1) In writing and signed by the testator (or by someone in their presence and at their direction); (2) the testator intended by their signature to give effect to the will; (3) the signature is made or acknowledged in the presence of two or more witnesses present at the same time, who each then sign or acknowledge in the testator's presence.

2. What are the two elements of testamentary capacity, and which case sets the common law test?

   Capacity requires the statutory test (Mental Capacity Act 2005) or the common law test in Banks v Goodfellow: the testator must understand (1) the nature of the act and its effects, (2) the extent of their property, and (3) the claims to which they ought to give effect, with no disorder of mind perverting their sense of right.

3. What is the effect on a gift in a will if the beneficiary (or their spouse/civil partner) acts as a witness?

   Under section 15 Wills Act 1837 the gift to that witness (or their spouse/civil partner) is void, although the will itself remains validly executed. The witness's attestation is still effective.

4. What is the presumption regarding knowledge and approval of a will's contents, and when is it displaced?

   There is a presumption of knowledge and approval where the testator had capacity and the will was duly executed. It is displaced where there are suspicious circumstances (e.g. a beneficiary prepared the will) or where the testator was blind, illiterate or did not sign personally, requiring affirmative proof.

5. How does marriage or formation of a civil partnership affect an existing will?

   Marriage or civil partnership automatically revokes an earlier will (s18/s18B Wills Act 1837), unless the will was expressly made in contemplation of that particular marriage/civil partnership.

6. What is the effect of divorce or dissolution of civil partnership on a will?

   The will is not revoked, but the former spouse/civil partner is treated as having died on the date of the decree absolute (s18A/s18C). Gifts to them lapse and their appointment as executor is ineffective; the rest of the will stands.

7. List the methods by which a will can be revoked.

   (1) A later will or codicil; (2) a duly executed written declaration of revocation; (3) destruction by the testator (or in their presence at their direction) with intention to revoke (s20); (4) by operation of law on marriage/civil partnership.

8. What two elements must both be present for revocation by destruction under section 20 Wills Act 1837?

   The physical act of destruction (burning, tearing or otherwise destroying) AND the intention to revoke (animus revocandi). Both must coincide; symbolic destruction (e.g. crossing out) without actual destruction is insufficient.

9. What is the doctrine of dependent relative revocation?

   Where a testator revokes a will conditional on some other event (e.g. that a new will will be valid), and that condition fails, the revocation is treated as ineffective and the original will may be admitted to probate.

10. What is the general rule on the date from which a will 'speaks' as to property, and the exception for people?

    Under s24 Wills Act 1837 a will speaks from the date of death as to property (so 'all my shares' covers shares owned at death). For people/beneficiaries, the will speaks from the date of execution unless a contrary intention appears.

11. Distinguish a specific legacy, a general legacy, a demonstrative legacy, and a pecuniary legacy.

    Specific: a particular identified asset (e.g. 'my gold watch'). General: a gift not distinguished from the rest (e.g. '100 shares'), bought from the estate if not owned. Demonstrative: a general gift directed to be paid from a specified fund. Pecuniary: a gift of money.

12. What is ademption and which type of legacy does it affect?

    Ademption is the failure of a specific legacy because the asset no longer forms part of the testator's estate at death (sold, lost or changed in substance). The beneficiary receives nothing and cannot claim its value.

13. What is the doctrine of lapse and how does it operate?

    A gift lapses (fails) if the beneficiary predeceases the testator. The gifted property falls into residue, or if it is a gift of residue that lapses, it passes under the intestacy rules.

14. What is the effect of section 33 Wills Act 1837 (the anti-lapse provision)?

    Where a gift is made to the testator's child or remoter descendant who predeceases the testator leaving issue who survive the testator, the gift does not lapse but passes to that beneficiary's issue, unless a contrary intention is shown.

15. Under section 184 Law of Property Act 1925, how is survivorship determined where two people die in circumstances making the order of death uncertain?

    The commorientes rule presumes the elder died first, so the younger is deemed to have survived. Note for intestacy on spouses there is a separate 28-day survivorship requirement that overrides this.

16. When does a gift by will fail for uncertainty?

    A gift fails if the subject matter (the property) or the object (the beneficiary) cannot be identified with sufficient certainty, and no rectification or extrinsic evidence resolves it.

17. On a total intestacy where the deceased leaves a surviving spouse/civil partner AND issue, how is the estate distributed (post-Oct 2014 rules)?

    The spouse receives all personal chattels, a statutory legacy of £322{,}000 (current figure) plus interest, and one half of the residue absolutely. The issue take the other half of the residue on the statutory trusts.

18. On intestacy, what does a surviving spouse/civil partner receive where the deceased leaves NO issue?

    Where there are no issue, the surviving spouse/civil partner takes the entire estate absolutely, regardless of whether other relatives (e.g. parents or siblings) survive.

19. What is the 28-day survivorship requirement on intestacy for a spouse/civil partner?

    For a spouse or civil partner to inherit on intestacy, they must survive the deceased by 28 days. If they die within 28 days, the estate is distributed as if they had not survived the intestate.

20. State the statutory order of entitlement on intestacy where there is no surviving spouse or civil partner.

    (1) Issue; (2) parents; (3) brothers and sisters of the whole blood; (4) brothers and sisters of the half blood; (5) grandparents; (6) uncles/aunts of the whole blood; (7) uncles/aunts of the half blood; (8) the Crown (bona vacantia). Each class takes only if the prior class is exhausted.

21. What does it mean for issue to take 'on the statutory trusts' under intestacy?

    Issue take in equal shares contingent on attaining 18 or marrying/forming a civil partnership earlier. If a child predeceased leaving issue, those grandchildren take their parent's share per stirpes (by substitution).

22. Which categories of person may apply for financial provision under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975?

    Spouse/civil partner; former spouse/civil partner who has not remarried; a cohabitant of 2+ years; a child of the deceased; a person treated as a child of the family; and any person maintained wholly or partly by the deceased immediately before death.

23. What is the time limit for bringing a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975?

    Within six months from the date of the grant of representation, although the court has discretion to extend this period.

24. Distinguish the two standards of provision under the 1975 Act.

    The surviving spouse/civil partner standard: such provision as is reasonable in all the circumstances, whether or not required for maintenance. The ordinary standard (all other applicants): such provision as is reasonable for the applicant's maintenance only.

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