A RECENT RULING by the Court of Appeal has dealt a blow to the inheritance rights of the “outside” partner in a cohabiting relationship in which one companion is married.
The court, comprising Chief Justice Marston Gibson and Justices of Appeal Sandra Mason and Kaye Goodridge, overturned a 2010 ruling by High Court Judge Olson Alleyne that a man who was separated from his wife, but not divorced, could be regarded as single.
The panel ruled last month that in order to claim inheritance or to succeed to the estate of the man at the centre of the case, the claimant must have first cleared the hurdle of being classified as a spouse – a minimum five-year live-in relationship after a divorce.
The appeal was brought by Albert Tony Selby, the brother of the deceased, Bertie Selby. The respondent was Katrina Smith, who was the lover of Bertie Selby. (MB)
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