‘Saltburn’ and the question of Undue Influence

Since its release at the end of 2023, Saltburn, described by IMDB as “a beautifully wicked tale of privilege and desire”, continues to be relentlessly referenced across all social media platforms and has been the talking point of many an office conversation.

Selina Gonzalez Solicitor in our Will Dispute team reports.

As those who have watched the film will know, we see the main protagonist, Oliver Quick, individually manipulate each member of a wealthy family to ultimately solely inherit their sprawling country estate.

While it is thankfully a rare set of circumstances for a real-life Will dispute to involve murder, what are more common are claims involving allegations of ‘undue influence’ – a basis upon which a Will may be challenged.

Undue influence occurs when one person exerts such pressure over another with the effect that their free will is broken and they are manipulated into making a Will that they otherwise would not have made. This may take the form of, for example, coercing a person into cutting out one child entirely in favour of another, or being subject to the wiles of a con-artist pretending to be a friend. The person making their Will (‘the Testator’) may feel frightened by this influence or they may simply be worn down and acquiesce to ‘keep the peace’.

Claims involving undue influence may be brought by a person who believes that they would have been the rightful beneficiary had the undue influence not have occurred and usually (but not necessarily) involve a frail and/or unwell Testator, or a Testator who did not have the requisite capacity to make a Will at all.

Matters involving undue influence are often rather complicated and require specialist advice.

If you are affected by any of the issues in this article please contact Selina on 01228 516666 or click here to send her an email.