Job Title
Partner
Direct Number
Email Address
Fax
01903 229163
Department/s
Dispute Resolution
Michael Cullen
Overview
I am a partner and solicitor in the Dispute Resolution Division, specialising in contentious probate. I joined Bennett Griffin LLP in September 2022 having qualified and practiced at a local firm in 2013. Since qualifying I have developed a practice in trust and probate disputes.
Qualifications
LLB Law 2007
LLM Law 2010
Legal Practice Course 2010
Areas of Expertise
My practice encompasses all matters relating to the validity of wills, disputes with personal representatives, trust and estate administration disputes, contested Court of Protection applications and claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. I have experience acting for claimants and defendants, as well as professional and lay personal representatives and trustees.
I am an experienced advocate and have appeared in the County Courts, before Masters of the High Court and the Court of Protection. I have also acted in many mediations across my practice area.
My past matters have included:-
- Advising a surviving husband about the validity of his late wife’s will which was not executed in accordance with Section 9 of the Wills Act 1837;
- Advising a beneficiary of an estate about a claim against the daughter of the deceased who has misused her Lasting Power of Attorney to withdraw significant funds and the transfer of a property from her father during his lifetime when he did not have capacity;
- Advising a beneficiary defending a claim by her estranged sister under the 1975 Act for provision from their late mother’s estate;
- Advising a beneficiary bringing a claim against his brothers, who were also the executors of their late brother’s estate, in relation to their refusal to distribute his share of the estate to him as a result of their unsubstantiated belief that my client had taken assets from the deceased’s estate;
- Advising a wife in relation to a claim under the 1975 Act against her husband’s estate after she discovered that he had secret savings of over £1 million cash but had left her only a small annual payment from his estate.