The competing claims of other beneficiaries, including their resources and needs, must be taken into account at the first (jurisdictional) stage of a family provision claim in assessing whether provision is inadequate, not merely at the second stage of determining quantum. A finding that a claimant must establish her claim 'upon its own merits' without regard to competing claims is an error of principle. Estrangement between a testator and claimant does not, on its own, ordinarily result in the claimant being unable to satisfy the jurisdictional requirement, and the causes of the estrangement must be appraised.
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