Claims to enforce the deceased’s promise
Claims to enforce the deceased’s promise, which has been relied upon – Proprietary estoppel
If the deceased makes a promise to give specific property to an individual on their death and that person relies on that promise to their detriment, the Court will consider whether or not it is unconscionable for the estate not to honour that promise if the will or applicable intestacy provisions fail to make good on that promise.
An example would be where a child relies on their parent’s promise to leave them the farm and the child subsequently works on the farm for many years, for little or no pay, only to find out on their parent’s death that the farm has been left to somebody else in the will.