Elizabeth Fry

Elizabeth is a member of the Association of Contentious Trust and Probate Specialists (ACTAPS) having become a member in 2006.

ACTAPS is an Association providing a 3 year training course run by the University of Law in order to become a member.

All members agree to abide by a Code of Conduct with regard to the way that these sorts of disputes are handled and commit to trying to resolve disputes as quickly and effectively as possible including by Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and mediation.

She is also a member of the Court of Protection Practitioners Association (CoPPA) and deals with contested Court of Protection applications.

Elizabeth heads up the Contentious Trusts and Probate Team and has a team of 5 specialists who practice in this area of law.

She is also the Head of the Disputes team at Wards’ Solicitors, heading up a team of 11 lawyers. Wards Solicitors provide a range of dispute service for private and business clients.

Examples of her work include:

• Assisting a wife of a second marriage to obtain more financial provision from her late husband’s estate, where she had been left with very little, the bulk of his money going to the children from his first marriage.
• Challenging a Will of a man who had suffered from dementia and made a Will in the last few months’ of his life, when he did not have capacity, cutting out several of his children.
• Assisting two young children whose mother had died in her 30s in obtaining financial provision from her Estate where she had not updated her Will before her death to provide anything for them.
• Challenging a Will of a father and securing an order that the father’s estate should provide financial provision for his two adult children who had suffered when they were children from the break up of their parents’ marriage and the subsequent death of their mother.
• Applying to the court to have an executor of an estate removed as he had not been dealing with the administration and distribution of an Estate correctly.
• Applying to the Court of Protection to remove an attorney who was supposed to be looking after the affairs of an elderly relative, on the grounds that they were not acting in her best interests.

Elizabeth said: “The area of work that I specialise in is complicated and highly technical, often in the Chancery Division which has its own set of Court procedures. It’s important that professional legal advice is sought so that matters can be resolved as quickly and effectively as possible. The most important thing is that people feel they have access to an expert, during what can be a highly charged, emotionally stressful time”.

Legal 500 Rankings

Legal 500 2024 Recommended for Contentious Trusts and Probate. 

Elizabeth Fry is recommended in the testimonials and described as ‘providing an excellent service to clients.  A first-rate contentious probate litigation team; very skilled.’

Previous Years

Legal 500 2020 Wards Solicitors is recommended for Contentious Trusts and Probate and testimonials describe Elizabeth Fry as ‘compassionate, understanding and non-judgemental’

Legal 500 2019 Wards Solicitors is recommended for Contentious Trusts and Probate and Elizabeth Fry is recommended in the editorial – “providing a very strong combination of legal analysis and fact management which works towards the best possible outcome for the client”.

Legal 500 2017

Qualifications and Experience

• Law degree 1983
• Qualified as a Solicitor in 1986
• Full member of the Association of Contentious Trust and Probate Specialists (ACTAPS) since 2006
• Member of the Court of Protection Practitioners Association (CoPPA) since 2016
• Has specialised in Contentious Probate since 1995

Supervised by Ian Williamson