IHTM35232 - the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants Act) 1975: persons who may apply
The persons who may apply for an order under the I(PFD)A 1975 are the deceased’s
- surviving spouse or civil partner (or former spouse who has not remarried or former civil partner who has not formed a new civil partnership) (IHTM11032)
- child or person treated by the deceased as a child of their family
- from 1 October 2014 onwards, following changes in the Inheritance and Trustees Powers Act 2014, a child in any family in which the deceased at any time stood in the role of parent
- cohabitee, a category introduced for deaths on or after 1 January 1996 by s.2 Law Reform (Succession) Act 1995. In Northern Ireland, this category was introduced for deaths on or after 20 February 1997 under article 4 of the Succession (Northern Ireland) Order 1996. A person will be in this category of claimant if, during the whole of the two year period preceding the deceased’s death, they lived in the same household as the deceased and as the husband or wife of the deceased, or
- any other person who was being wholly or partly maintained by the deceased immediately before their death. However for deaths on or after 1 October 2014 this is amended so that a person is only treated as being maintained by the deceased if the deceased was making a substantial contribution in money, or money’s worth towards the reasonable needs of that person
The application for the order must normally be made within six months of the date of grant of representation, but the court may allow a later application. From 1 October 2014 an application can be made before the grant is taken out.