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Grandchildren given £50 each from 'hurt' grandfather's £500k fortune ordered to pay £220k costs

Grandchildren given £50 each from 'hurt' grandfather's £500k fortune ordered to pay £220k costs

A High Court Judge ruled that the will had been made on rational grounds.

When dealing with a recently deceased loved one's will, there can often be tension amongst families.

Ideally, a will should allow you to outline your wishes and avoid any conflict between relatives as cash and assets are divided up.

However this is not always the case, with families often coming to blows over the amount they have (or haven't) received from a loved one.

This is what happened with Fredrick Ward Sr's family after his death, with the former soldier's will seeing the family end up in court in 2020.

Following his passing, the family was left to divide his £500,000 fortune - and Fred Sr had left clear instructions on how the money was to be divided.

(Champion News)
(Champion News)

Disappointed that five of his grandchildren, the daughters of his son Fred Jr, hadn't visited him in his last few years, the 91-year-old would leave them just £50 each. While his other children, Terry Ward and Susan Wiltshire, inherited the majority of his fortune and £450,000 flat.

After learning of the news five granddaughters - Carol Gowing, Angela St Marseille, Amanda Higginbotham, Christine Ward and Janet Pett - took the will to court.

The sisters' claimed they should have been allowed to inherit their late father's share of the money, as well as accusing their aunt and uncle of having 'unduly influenced' their granddad into changing the will.

However High Court judge, Master James Brightwell ultimately ruled in favour of the will - written in 2018 - stating that it has been based on rational grounds.

(Champion News)
(Champion News)

The court outlined that the rational grounds were the granddaughters not visiting him.

Following the hearing, the five sisters have now been ordered to pay £220,000-plus bill to cover their legal fees as well as the costs incurred by their aunt and uncle defending the claim.

The sisters have been asked to pay £100,000 up front towards the bill, with the estimating to be around £136,470 minus VAT.

This is on top of their legal costs of £85,688.50.

During the case least year, the judge heard that Fred Sr had previously drafted a will which shared his estate equally between all three of his children.

However after the death of Fred Jr - father to the five daughters - the family had become estranged, with the sisters not seeing much of their grandfather.

The contents of the will led to a shouting match between the family, which had been played out to the court.

Ruling on the case, Master Brightwell concluded: "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.

"This does not mean that I cannot understand the claimants' disappointment at being essentially left out."

Featured Image Credit: (Champion News)

Topics: UK News, Money