Trinity barrister, James Kemp was successful in a High Court application before Mr Justice Jackson sitting at the Manchester Civil Justice Centre in the application for an order directing scientific testing of the DNA of a person who had died for the purpose of providing evidence of paternity.
An application was made for a declaration under section 55A of the Family Law Act 1986 that Mr Spencer's father was the late Mr Anderson who died intestate in 2012. Mr Spencer sought a direction that a stored DNA sample extracted during medical investigations for bowel cancer during Mr Anderson's lifetime should be tested to establish whether or not he was Mr Anderson's son.
Describing the facts as unusual the Judge held that there was no statutory footing to do so but that given the circumstances the court should exercise its Inherent Jurisdiction to order such testing; the human rights of the applicant overriding that of the respondent personal representative of the estate. James was instructed by TM Solicitors.
Spencer v Anderson (Paternity Testing: Jurisdiction) [2016] EWHC 851(Fam).
James is recognised as a contentious probate specialist in Legal 500 2015 "Experienced in disputes arising from distributions of estates, wills and succession issues".