Grandad was right to leave just £50 to grandchildren who didn’t visit, judge rules
A GRANDFATHER who was ‘hurt’ by his grandchildren not visiting him more was entitled to leave them only £50 each of his £500,000 fortune, a judge has ruled.
Former soldier Frederick Ward Sr left almost all of his estate to his children Terry Ward and Susan Wiltshire when he died in 2020, snubbing his late son Fred Jr’s children.
The 91-year- old told his legal representatives he was upset about Carol Gowing, Angela St Marseille, Amanda Higginbotham, Christine Ward and Janet Pett not visiting him while he was in hospital with a lung condition.
The five sisters sued, claiming to be entitled to their late father’s one-third share. But in the High Court, Chancery Master James Brightwell ruled the 2018 will was ‘entirely rational’ given the grandchildren had ‘very limited contact’ with their grandfather in his later years.
The sisters had argued their Uncle Terry and Aunt Susan had ‘unduly influenced’ Fred Sr into changing his will, but the judge rejected this.
Fred Sr, who lived in Ealing, west London, had previously made a will splitting his estate between all three of his children, but after Fred Jr died in 2015, the 91-yearold rarely saw his late son’s side of the family. When Fred Sr’s will was read out after his death, a shouting match broke out – which was recorded and played to the court – when it was revealed the five sisters had been all but cut out.
From a fortune of about £500,000, the granddaughters were given envelopes containing only £50 each. Master Brightwell said the sisters had made only ‘very occasional short visits’ to their grandfather, while he was on close terms with Terry and Susan.
The judge said: ‘I accept Susan’s evidence that her father complained that Fred Jr’s family did not care about him.’
He added that Fred Sr was particularly upset about the lack of contact at the time of one of his great-granddaughters’ weddings.
‘He complained that he was not even sent a piece of wedding cake,’ Master Brightwell said.
The judge added: ‘ In those circumstances, and despite a promise by Fred several years earlier to divide his estate between his children’s children if anything should happen to any of them, the 2018 will was in my view entirely rational.’
The judge also rejected claims Fred Sr did not have ‘capacity’ to make the will in 2018.
‘The will was entirely rational’