Sisters left just £50 each now owe £220k after losing court fight over grandfather’s will
FIVE sisters left just £50 each by their grandfather in his £500,000 will are now over £220,000 out of pocket after being ordered to pay the costs of a failed court fight.
A judge heard that former soldier Frederick Ward, who died in 2020, all but cut out the five children of his dead son Fred Junior because he was upset they did not visit him often in his later years.
Instead, his will split his fortune between his remaining children, Terry Ward and Susan Wiltshire, with Fred Jnr’s five daughters – Carol Gowing, Angela St Marseille, Amanda Higginbotham, Christine Ward and Janet Pett – being handed just £50 each in envelopes.
Rational
After learning they had been “left out” of the will, the sisters sued, claiming they should get their late dad’s one-third share of their grandfather’s money, and accusing their Uncle Terry and Aunt Susan of having “unduly influenced” him into changing his will.
But their case was thrown out by High Court judge, Master James Brightwell, who in March said it was “entirely rational” for the “disappointed” grandad to cut out his grandkids due to their “very limited contact” with him. Following a new hearing, the sisters are left facing a crushing £220,000-plus bill to cover their aunt and uncle’s costs of defending the claim, as well as their own legal bills.
Lawyers for the five granddaughters had argued that they should not pay all the costs of the case, accusing their uncle of “provocative” behaviour, and asking for some of the bills of the fight to come out of their grandad’s estate. But the judge said the cause of the court battle was the change in the relationship between granddaughters and grandfather, who was disappointed at their limited contact after Fred Jnr died. He ordered the sisters to pay £100,000 up front towards a defence bill estimated at £136,470, with VAT to be added on. The sisters’ own legal costs were £85,688.50.
During the hearing over the row, the court heard last year that Fred Snr, an “independent and strong minded” cable joiner and social club user who lived in South Ealing, west London, died aged 91 in 2020.
He had three kids, Fred Jnr, Terry and Susan, and had previously made a will which split his estate, including his £450,000 maisonette, between all three.
But Fred Jnr died in 2015, after which the family fell out. When Fred Snr’s final will was read out by Terry after his death, a shouting match broke out – which was recorded and played to the court. The sisters sued, claiming their grandad’s will was invalid, having been made when he was “an ill man” and “frightened” of Terry, who they claimed “coerced” him into making it. They also accused Susan of exerting “undue influence” over Fred Snr.
Their barrister told the judge that Terry had developed a particular “hate” for Carol Gowing after a falling out over a property, and there was a “palpable dislike between two sides of the family”.
Maxwell Myers, representing Terry and Susan, denied the sisters’ allegations. He told the court: “One is entitled to leave one’s property to whoever one pleases.”