Inheritance disputes and family planning failures are becoming an increasingly visible pressure point for UK advisers as enormous amounts of wealth prepare to move between generations. Ministry of Justice figures, obtained by TWM Solicitors, show that 11,589 applications for probate caveats were made in the 12 months to 31 July 2025, up 12% from 10,313 the year before. A caveat temporarily halts the granting of probate while concerns about a will or estate are investigated. The numbers suggest this is no longer a problem confined to dynastically wealthy families.
Why Inheritance Disputes Extend Well Beyond the Ultra-Wealthy
TWM partner Stuart Downey points to rising property values as a primary driver. Across large parts of Britain, the family home alone can constitute a substantial estate, meaning that the emotional and financial stakes of succession are no longer reserved for those with exceptional wealth. Downey also highlights the growing complexity of family structures: second marriages, stepchildren, half-siblings and competing branches of families all produce different expectations about who should receive what. Add concerns about mental capacity or whether an elderly relative was pressured into changing a will, and even relatively modest estates can generate deeply fraught disputes.
The emotional dimension matters here. An inheritance rarely represents only money. For many beneficiaries, it carries meaning: approval, recognition, a sense of being valued. When one child receives more than another, however sound the financial rationale, the message received can be rather different from the one intended. That psychological layer is precisely why family wealth conversations are so difficult, and why avoiding them tends to make things worse.
Research from BDO reinforces how widespread the problem is even among those with the resources to plan properly. Ninety per cent of ultra-high-net-worth families experience disagreements over wealth. More than half of heirs reported clashes with parents over investment decisions, while 44% cited conflicts over roles and responsibilities in family businesses. More than a third said disagreements arose because relatives felt excluded from decision-making, and 28% attributed disputes to poor communication. Yet BDO also found that only 30% of ultra-wealthy families have a fully developed and implemented succession plan, a figure that implies a considerable volume of unresolved tension waiting for a trigger.
The Adviser’s Role in Inheritance Disputes and Family Planning Conversations
For financial advisers, the Great Wealth Transfer has long been framed as a commercial opportunity: develop relationships with the next generation before the assets move. That framing is not wrong, but it is incomplete. Alongside the assets, advisers may find themselves inheriting the family’s unresolved arguments. An adviser may know that a client plans to leave more to one child because another received substantial help during the client’s lifetime. The arrangement may be entirely reasonable. The beneficiaries, however, may see it quite differently.
Confidentiality does not evaporate simply because a frank family conversation might prevent a future dispute. However, there is legitimate scope, within an adviser’s professional boundaries, to encourage clients to explain the reasoning behind succession decisions, to bring relevant family members into discussions where appropriate, and to review wills and estate arrangements regularly. Apparently straightforward choices often carry considerable emotional weight, and the Ministry of Justice probate data suggests that, across the country, not enough of those conversations are happening early enough.
Families that actually discuss difficult subjects tend to cope with them better. Over the coming decades, advisers will be present for more of those conversations whether they plan for it or not.
