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Estates of Deceased Persons (Forfeiture Rule and Law of Succession) Bill

I thank my right hon. Friend for making that clear. The Law Society also made an important point about the wording of the provisions in new section 33A(2) of the Wills Act 1837, which would be inserted by clause 2(1) of the Bill. Earlier draft Bills provided that where a person disclaims, or is disqualified by the operation of the forfeiture rule from inheriting under the deceased person's will, the will is to be construed as if that person had died immediately before the deceased, save in so far as there is any provision in the will about how the devise or bequest is to take effect. The Law Society thought that this ““any provision”” test was more demanding than the ““unless a contrary intention appears by the will”” test in other related statutory provisions, and the Bill now follows those other provisions. We hope that will provide consistency and simplicity. We welcome my right hon. Friend the Member for East Yorkshire's decision to make the Bill consistent with the Wills Act and I should add, for completeness, that the Law Commission is content with the Bill in its present form. We are very grateful to the Justice Committee and its witnesses, particularly the Bar and the Law Society, for drawing attention to these matters. The approach in the Bill is the right one. This is a small but worthwhile piece of technical law reform produced by the Law Commission. I applaud my right hon. Friend for taking up this serious topic and I wish the Bill a fair passage through this House and the other place.