Legal remedy for spouses

Disinherited spouses may take comfort from a landmark ruling handed down in the Supreme Court two weeks ago and reported in The Sunday Gleaner last week.

The effect of the ruling in the particular case is that a wife of 24 years, who challenged the will of her deceased husband, has been awarded 70 per cent of their home valued at $3 million. She had been excluded from the provisions of the will.

Prior to the enactment of the Inheritance (Provisions for the Family and Dependents) Act in 1993 the position in Jamaica was that the courts did not have the power to vary or disturb testamentary dispositions or succession rights on testacy. As the judgement puts it, "a member of the family of the deceased or a person who was dependent on him who is unprovided for, was left without a remedy in law".

That remedy has now been invoked by the woman who challenged the will of her husband who had not made her a beneficiary, having left the house to his uncle and a daughter who was not his wife's.

As we understand it, the case has stirred some interest particularly among wives in a similar predicament. The particular case should alert them to the fact that there is now remedy available in the law.

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