David Peace died at Dignitas in December 2021. He was accompanied to Switzerland by his friend Timothy Murphy. Mr Murphy was a major beneficiary of David Peace’s Will and had also received, before they travelled, a substantial Scottish Widows insurance policy from him. There were three other beneficiaries under the Will.
The Executor of the Will was Paul Grant. As the executor, Mr Grant was worried that one or other of the beneficiaries might seek to bring an action under the Forfeiture Rule, under which no one can inherit anything from a person whose death they have sought to bring about. In reality, such an action was highly unlikely because all the beneficiaries had agreed between themselves that David Peace’s wishes should be followed. Nonetheless, Paul Grant sought clearance from the High Court that he would be safe to proceed. The Court gave him the clearance that he needed.
This ruling was not reported in the law journals at the time – and that is hardly any surprise. There was nothing controversial about the ruling. It followed the precedents set in Ninian v Findlay and in the case brought by Philip Morris a couple of years later.
What was a surprise, however, to the point of astonishment, was how long the Peace case had taken and how much it must have cost. Mr Peace died in 2021. It was not until June 2025 three and a half years later that the Court ruling was given. Furthermore, the hearing involved four firms of Solicitors and four separate leading barristers, one of whom was a KC. The cost. must have been astronomic. Attempts to find out precisely how much have not been a success.
And, possibly worst of all, the administration of the estate will have been held up whilst all this was going on.
You might assume from all this that David Peace had left a very substantial estate. Yet that does not appear to have been the case. He did not inherit any great wealth and although he had a very successful career, substantially overseas, he was never in a position to create a fortune of his own. So the delay, the cost (all of which was borne by the estate) and the inevitable anxiety became an enormous price to pay for this odd little quirk of English law.
