Stephanie Ewan

Biography

Stephanie works within our busy probate litigation department and acts on a wide range of matters including Will validity disputes, claims pursuant to the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 and disputes between executors, trustees and beneficiaries.

Stephanie completed a history degree at the University of Liverpool in 2011, gaining a 2.1 BA (Hons). Following this, she studied the Graduate Diploma in Law and Legal Practice Course at the University of Law in Chester, gaining a distinction in both courses and a 1st class LLB overall.

After completing the Legal Practice Course in 2014, Stephanie joined national firm, Linder Myers, where she worked as a paralegal for a year before beginning her training contract. During her training contract, Stephanie gained experience in both Trusts & Estates and Litigation, having undertaken seats in these areas.

Stephanie joined Myerson upon the completion of her training contract in October 2017 and qualified as a solicitor in the Probate Litigation department shortly afterwards.

Stephanie has been named a “rising star” in contentious trusts and probate in the North-west in the Legal 500 from 2021 – 2024. In the Legal 500 2022, she was described as “an up and coming talent in contentious probate” who has “expertise and knowledge well beyond her qualification”. Stephanie has been shortlisted for the Legal 500 Northern Powerhouse Awards 2024 in the category of private client rising star of the year.

She is a full member of ACTAPS (The Association of Contentious Trust and Probate Specialists) and ConTrA (The Contentious Trusts Association).

Expertise and Past Cases

Examples of Stephanie’s recent notable matters include:

Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 claims

• Acting for the stepson of the Deceased and obtaining a successful outcome at trial, including a contribution towards his Conditional Fee Agreement success fee, Higgins v Morgan and others [2021] EWHC 2846 (Ch).
• Acting for the spouse of the Deceased and obtaining a successful outcome at trial, Smith v Derbyshire (reported on WestLaw – 2018 WL 02022299). 
• Acting for the Defendants in a contentious and complex multi-million-pound claim and assisting in the settlement of the matter. 
• Successfully obtaining regular interim provision for the Claimant where he was in an extremely poor financial position.

Claims challenging the validity of Wills/Codicils

• Acting for the successful claimant at trial in Smith v Ganning (currently unreported), involving a challenge to the validity of the claimant’s mother’s Will for failure to comply with the requirements of section 9 of the Wills Act 1837.
• Acting in respect of validity challenges to Wills and Codicils on the grounds of lack of capacity, want of knowledge and approval, undue influence and improper execution. 
• Successfully obtaining an order for examination of a Will draftsman pursuant to section 122 Senior Courts Act 1981 where he had failed to properly reply to a Larke v Nugus request.
• Defending a claim to prove a Will in solemn form.

Other cases

• Acting in claims pursuant to constructive and resulting trust, proprietary estoppel and death bed gifts.  
• Acting for the successful claimant at trial in White v White (currently unreported) and obtaining the removal of an executor who had failed to properly administer the estate. An independent solicitor was appointed to deal with the estate administration in the executor’s place. 
• Successfully obtaining an order to remove a Personal Representative where they had acted improperly in an estate administration and replacing them with our clients. 
• Acting in a dispute in an intestate estate as to the identity of the person entitled to extract a Grant of Letters of Administration, Re Okanlawon [2019] Probate Registry.
• Acting for executors in applications to prove copy Wills. 
• Acting in a statutory Will case in the Court of Protection.
• Acting for Attorneys in obtaining an order for sale of a property in relation to a person who lacked mental capacity.
• Acting for the Claimant in enforcing the terms of a court order and successfully obtaining an order for sale of a property.