Great Expectations: Wills and Inheritance

[rynner2]

RSPCA got my £1.5m inheritance
Hannah Fletcher

She worked on their farm for 40 years; she cared for them in their old age; she uprooted her family to be near them – but it was only after they died that Christine Gill discovered that her parents had written her out of their will and left their £1.5 million estate to an animal charity. Dr Gill, 56, was left “deeply hurt and bewildered” by the disinheritance, which meant that Potto Carr Farm, near Potto, North Yorkshire, was bequeathed in its 287-acre entirety to the RSPCA.

“To lose the farm is like having my heart and soul ripped out,” she said. “It’s the farm that I’ve grown up on, that I’ve worked on and that I’ve arranged my life around.”

From the age of 13 and throughout her university studies, Dr Gill worked on Potto Carr, driving tractors and picking potatoes.

In 1986 she bought a house next to Potto Carr, with her husband, Andrew Baczkowski, so that she could be close to her parents and combine her work in the department of statistics at the University of Leeds with work on their farm.

“As a daughter, I could not have done more,” Dr Gill said yesterday. But, she said, she now felt as if she had “been used as a dogsbody”.

“We worked on the farm because we were part of the family and we were helping the farm to survive – and because one day we expected we would pass the farm on to the next generation.”

Now, it is Dr Gill’s ten-year-old son, Christopher, who “loses out”.

“He’s mad about farming,” said Dr Gill, as she described a living-room floor divided into pretend fields. “He even has a crop rotation schedule. It’s heartbreaking to watch him and know that his fields are under such a threat.

“My parents had plenty of scope to make a substantial donation to charity without disinheriting me so completely that nothing was to be left to me, not even any family mementos.”

Last Friday the contents of the farmhouse, including antiques, family photos and even a teddy bear that Dr Gill made for her mother as a child were “auctioned off for a pittance”.

“I watched the destruction of my family history,” said Dr Gill. “I watched lot after lot go under the hammer – £1 here, £2 there.” The proceeds went to the RSPCA.

Her parents’ bequest to the RSPCA has rankled with Dr Gill all the more, she says, because her parents, both advocates of hunting, never had anything to do with the charity, and “never wrote a cheque to the RSPCA”.

Dr Gill’s father, John, died in 1999, leaving Dr Gill, an only child, to care for her mother, Joyce, who suffered from severe social phobia. “I cared for her; I shopped for her; I drove her; I bought her clothes; I took them back if she didn’t like them,” Dr Gill said.

Mrs Gill died in August 2006 and it was then that Dr Gill saw her parents’ wills. The “mirror wills” were identical and left everything to each other, and then, once they had both died, to the RSPCA.

Dr Gill said that a possible motive for the disinheritance was that her parents did not like her half-Polish husband. But, she said: “He’s never been to Poland. He doesn’t speak Polish. And he looks like a Yorkshireman to me.” Dr Gill also suggested that her father could have had a “bee in his bonnet” about not having a son when he drew up his will. By the time his grandson, Christopher, was born, he was 80 and simply forgot or didn’t bother to change it.

Dr Gill is now having court papers drawn up to challenge the wills under the 1975 Inheritance Act and must lodge them by October 15. She has also been trying to negotiate with the RSPCA but said yesterday that it had treated her “ruthlessly”. A spokesman for the RSPCA said it hoped “that it can be resolved without the need for legal proceedings”.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 584528.ece

 

[rynner2]

Where there's a will there's a way to find it
Last Updated: 1:27am BST 27/10/2007

The son of a multi-millionaire who was left with nothing after his father's will disappeared vowed yesterday to help others avoid a similar fate.

Yan Whittaker, 21, from Sheffield, was stunned after discovering he had not inherited anything from the 43-year-old businessman — despite being told previously he had been included in his will.

Yan's father, also called Yan, died in January this year after his red Ferrari careered off a road and exploded.

The father of three had told his son he had rewritten his will in 2005, leaving him a substantial amount of money.

However, following his death the will disappeared.

Yan's step-mother, Jayne Whittaker, 41, inherited everything, including a £1.2 million home and the family business, which sells horseboxes.

Following months of legal wrangling, Yan discovered he had no way of proving the will ever existed.

He said: "I knew my father had written a will in 2005 which included me in it.

"Members of my family had seen the 2005 will and its existence was well known.

"After my father's death we couldn't find the 2005 will, it had simply disappeared and the only will we could find dated back to 2003 and left everything to my step-mother, Jayne Whittaker, who was separated from dad.

"I naturally assumed the will would be registered somewhere and there would be a record of my father making it. I was stunned when my solicitor told me there was no official registry and trying to find my father's will would be like looking for a needle in a haystack."

Yan's experience resulted in him launching The Will Registry of the United Kingdom (www.thewillregistryuk.co.uk) — a national database that records details of when, where and with which firm of solicitors a will has been made.

He said: "The law relating to wills in this country is archaic. Essentially you make a will, keep a copy for yourself and another one is left in the back of a solicitor's safe somewhere.

"If you don't know where a will is or who your loved one made their will with, then it can simply disappear.

"I want to make sure this does not happen to other families."

Jayne Whittaker was unavailable for comment.

http://tinyurl.com/2y5daa

Hmm.. Could be a three-pipe problem, Watson....

 

[rynner2]

Contentious things, Wills, especially when a death-bed change is made....

Legal dispute after 'Beckham of the Baize' snooker ace cuts father out of his will
By ANDREW CHAPMAN
Last updated at 22:23pm on 27th October 2007

The heartbroken father of snooker superstar Paul Hunter is facing a legal dispute after his son cut him out of his will just days before losing his battle against cancer a year ago.

Sources suggest Alan Hunter intends to contest his removal from the document in a codicil added by Paul on his deathbed, which also reduced his mother Krystina and sister Leanne's bequests from £50,000 to £30,000, leaving the remainder of the estate to his widow Lindsey.

The codicil also states that Paul's manager, Brandon Parker, 43, who is an executor of the will, was a witness to the change along with his wife, Charlotte, 37.

Three times Masters snooker champion Paul, who died aged 27, also curiously stated that his father Alan would have 'no ownership of the car' and that the changes were being made after a business meeting at his home.

Sources within the snooker world also claim that a rift could be growing between Paul's parents and his widow Lindsey, 31, with the possibility that they might be prevented from seeing Evie Rose, the granddaughter they dote on, who will be two on Boxing Day.

The codicil, signed by Paul Hunter, is dated September 22, 2006. A typed section at the top reads: 'To the executers of my will: Mr B. Parker (my manager) and Catherine Shanley (my solicitor).

'Following a business meeting at my house on the above date, I have decided to make changes to the first will that I signed last year.

'Those changes are handwritten and signed below by myself as proof of authenticity, and in the presence of Brandon's wife as a witness.'

The following then appears in capital letters in Paul's handwriting: 'My father Alan is no longer in the will with no ownership of the car.

'Leanne and my mother Krystina's inheritance drops to £30,000 each from £50,000. Any remaining inheritance not specified goes to my wife.'

At the bottom of the codicil is Paul's signature, the date and the signatures of the two witnesses – Mr Parker and his wife Charlotte.

Mr Parker confirmed the dispute over the will but would only say: 'The matter is in the hands of solicitors. There may or may not be a court hearing, and at this moment I am not in a position to make any comment.'

Paul Hunter's meteoric rise to world No4 earned him more than £1.5million in prize money and hundreds of thousands of pounds in sponsorship deals. He was dubbed the Beckham of the Baize for his good looks and long, blond locks, held off his face by an Alice band when playing at the table.

At the former council house in Leeds where Paul was born and which Alan and Krystina now own, they would not discuss the contesting of the will. Alan, a roofer, who read the main tribute to Paul at his funeral last October, said: 'We cannot make any comment about this matter at all at this stage. You will have to speak to our solicitor.'

Paul's mother Krystina, a receptionist, added: 'It is just a year ago since we lost Paul and I love him and I miss him so much. He was my baby. Losing Paul was the hardest thing I have ever had to bear.'

Neither Mr nor Mrs Hunter would discuss the question of a rift between themselves and Paul's widow Lindsey but they dismissed the suggestion that they might be prevented from seeing their granddaughter. Mrs Hunter said: 'It's not really like that, we are seeing Evie this weekend.'

Paul had been on chemotherapy in the months leading up to his death in a bid to fight the malignant neuroendocrine tumours in his body. He died on October 9, 2006. At her home in Batley, West Yorks, Lindsey was not available for comment.

http://tinyurl.com/3duqu3

 

[rynner2]

Couple in home dispute with WWF

A couple from Cornwall are planning to go to court to stay in a Georgian house which the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) claims it was left in a will.

Keith Lewis and his wife Patricia moved into the property in St Day to look after Mr Lewis' aunt, Doris Barnes, who died in June 2005 at the age of 90.

Mr Lewis said his aunt made a will in 1988 leaving them everything, and a trust deed in 1991 for them to stay.

She made another will in 2005, which the WWF said gives it the house.

Strong case

The couple have lived in the four-bedroom detached property for 20 years.

Mr Lewis said his aunt signed a trust deed In 1991 which on her death passed the property to him and his wife, and which was witnessed by a neighbour.

Just before Mrs Barnes died she made a new will dividing her property between the WWF and two other parties.

Seriously-ill Mr Lewis, 63, said that he and his 58-year-old wife - his carer - would "lose everything" and be left "on the streets" if the matter went against them.

Mr Lewis, a former tanker driver, is suffering from renal failure and undergoes dialysis four times a week while he hopes for a kidney transplant.

The WWF said in a statement it had "received legal advice that there is a strong case to set aside a trust deed, which left the benefit of Doris Barnes' property to Mr and Mrs Lewis".

'Valid document'

But Mr Lewis said he and his wife believed the trust deed was a "legal and valid document," adding "there are no grounds to overturn it".

Mr Lewis said they were "going to stick to our guns", adding that he and his wife had spent £40,000 on the property over the years.

"As far as I am concerned it is going to court," he said.

The WWF said it had made genuine attempts to settle the matter without the need for legal proceedings.

Because legal proceedings were active, it said it was unable to make any further comment pending the outcome of the proceedings.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7365842.stm

 

[rynner2]

I should really get around to making a will myself.

The reason I haven't up till now is that I've never had any wealth or property to leave anyone. And my few possessions would hardly have covered the cost of my funeral!

But recently, and unexpectedly, I inherited some money myself. Now, barring some horrible collapse in the social order, this should be enough for me to live on for at least another twenty years or more.

However, accidents do happen, and sudden diseases may strike, so I may not be around that long. Although I have two children, I've not seen them for over 20 years, and they show little interest in keeping in touch, and I believe they are better off in every way than I was at their age anyway!

A local solicitor offers to make wills for free, provide they include a donation to Cancer Relief, which sounds a good idea. And of course, there are many other worthy charities looking for money...

Decisions, decisions....

But if I die intestate, I believe the government would get the lot
- and that would never do!

Any other thoughts?

 

[stonedog2]

Mine includes some "fun" items which will trigger if and when the only people who might need my help predecease me - in that case most of it goes to my church's charities with the exceptions being

* money behind the bar at various pubs I've loved (not that they'll remember me I hope)

* a couple of £100 to various people who never expected anything when they did something I admired or thought was noteworthy, and may well not even have noticed I noticed, if you see what I mean.

Kath

 

[rynner2]

Mine includes some "fun" items which will trigger if and when...

Ah, yes, happy memories of writing BASIC programs on my early computers!

I had thought of having a few "IF....THEN" clauses myself (To my nephew Clarence, £500, provided he gets a haircut and passes a breath-test at the reading of this will...), but haven't hit upon any that are quite satisfactory.

And they would look rather pretentious if my estate at my decease has a negative balance! :shock:

But I agree Wills should be Fun, and not create aggro amongst potential legatees.

 

[stonedog2]

Yeah - there's a global test at the top to see if there is any money to start with..... :lol:

The solicitor said it was like a pascal program. Personally I think in Prolog but I confess that you've nailed it Ryn. *scuttles off to add codicil concerning distinguished and perceptive gentleman on message board*

So what're your fun bits? And are we about to get moved to chat?

Kath

 

[rynner2]

So what're your fun bits? And are we about to get moved to chat?

rynner covers fun bits with hands...

Well, I guess this chatty part could well be moved into the 'Growing Old..' thread (which is, for some inexplicable reason, already in Chat ).....

 

[Kondoru]

I saw a hearse with flame graphics on the other day.

(this was outside Bath, if anyone wants to keep an eye out for it)

I want one of those at my funeral.

 

[rynner2]

Daughters cut out of will by Megan Swanston, mother they tried to evict
Russell Jenkins

Three women have been cut out of their mother’s will because they tried to evict her from the family home so that they could sell it.

Instead Megan Swanston, who died in December, aged 84, has left £20,000 to the hospice that cared for her in the last six months of her life, saying in her will that she had left her daughters nothing “because of the way they have treated me during my lifetime”.

The family feud, which became public in 1995, had its roots much earlier when Mrs Swanston’s husband, Willie, fell out with his father, John Swanston, who ran a chemical factory in Edinburgh.

John Swanston made it a condition of his will that his son could live in the family’s 1930s cottage near Failsworth, Oldham, until his death but it would be kept in a trust for his three granddaughters, Elaine Nixon, Valerie Hunter and Lorraine Talbot.

When Mrs Swanston’s husband died in February, 1994, there was an understanding that the daughters would allow her to remain in the house until her death.

The following month Mrs Nixon, the wife of a golf professional in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, sent her mother a letter outlining her struggle to pay her £500-a-month mortgage and concluding that a sale of the £58,000 family home was the only option.

The letter ended: “I know that I have always said that it is your house until you die and at the time I meant it. But circumstances have changed, mum. For weeks I have been trying to think of an alternative solution, but, short of winning the pools, there isn’t one.”

She suggested that her mother contact Oldham Council about finding her a flat. A week later a more formal letter told her she had eight weeks to move or “we will do whatever is legally necessary to obtain what is rightfully ours”.

The local community rallied behind Mrs Swanston, who disowned her daughters publicly. She complained at the time: “My husband Willie and I gave them everything they ever wanted or asked for and they repay me by seeking to turn me into a bag lady on a park bench, with just my dog for company.

"How can my own flesh and blood want to kick me out on the street?”

A judge sitting at Oldham County Court warned the daughters that pursuing their case would mean a £25,000 legal bill, adding: “The phrase ‘washing your dirty linen in public’ is one that comes to mind.”

The family eventually reached a private settlement and two years later the house was sold to a property company for £60,000 on the basis that Mrs Swanston could remain there as the sitting tenant.

She stayed there until she was admitted to Dr Kershaw’s Hospice, in Royton, Oldham, last year. Her will has now been made public.

A family friend said: “During the last few months of her life, it was only Megan’s nephew who came to visit her. None of her daughters were at the funeral.

“It was all so terribly sad that Megan should pass away without her differences with her daughters being patched up.”

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/b ... 940992.ece

 

[rynner2]

Brothers living in cave to inherit billions from lost grandmother
Two penniless brothers who live in a cave outside Budapest are to inherit most of a reported £4 billion after an astonishing twist in their family fortunes.
By Henry Samuel
Published: 7:00AM GMT 02 Dec 2009

Zsolt and Geza Peladi have no fixed address and eke out an existence by selling junk they find in the street.

But their scavenging days are about to be over. The brothers have been informed they are entitled to their long-lost grandmother’s fortune, along with a sister who lives in America.

Charity workers in Hungary broke the news to them after being contacted by lawyers handling the estate of their maternal grandmother who died recently in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany.

“We knew our mother came from a wealthy family but she was a difficult person and severed ties with them, and then later abandoned us and we lost touch with her and our father until she eventually died,” Geza Peladi, 43, told ATV television.

Under German law, direct descendants are automatically entitled to a share of any estate. As the grandmother’s daughter is dead the money goes to her grandchildren.

“If this all works out it will certainly make up for the life we have had until now — all we really had was each other — no women would look at us living in a cave,” said Geza.

“But with money, maybe we can find a partner and finally have a normal life. We don’t know yet if she even told our grandmother about us. I understand it was only while they were carrying out genealogical research that lawyers found we existed.”

Gyula Balazs Csaszar, a volunteer working for Budapest’s Maltese Charity Service, said: “We were contacted by a lawyer asking us to find the brothers.

“He claimed he could help their lives with a large sum of money.”

The grandmother’s name has been kept secret to prevent fraudsters trying to cash in on the inheritance.

A spokesman for the lawyers handling the case said: “We know who we need to speak to and that is the two brothers who we are pretty sure are the grandchildren. There is no need for anyone else to be informed.”

The brothers are currently seeking copies of their mother’s death certificate and proof of their identity and family connections as the rightful heirs before travelling to Germany to claim the fortune. 8)

Last month, a student from Moldova inherited nearly a billion euros from a long-lost relative. Sergey Sudev was left the fortune by an uncle he had not seen for 10 years.

Despite his new wealthy status, Mr Sudev intends to complete his journalism studies.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... other.html

 

[rynner2]

Enough material here for a stonking great block-buster!

Asia's richest woman, her £8bn will, and a feng shui master who won't get a penny
Judge rules that 'Little Sweetie's' fortune should go to charity rather than former lover
By Clifford Coonan
Wednesday, 3 February 2010

It's a rattling court case that has electrified Hong Kong with its potent cocktail of sex, scandal, dollops of cash and a robust dash of feng shui thrown in for good measure. Indeed, in the former Crown colony it is so notorious that it has attracted a nickname: the "Battle of the Wills". And now it looks as if the saga of Nina Wang's estate might finally be at an end.

Ms Wang, who was at one stage Asia's richest woman, died of ovarian cancer in April 2007 at the age of 69. Her death prompted a bitter feud between Tony Chan, a barman-turned-feng shui master and property tycoon in his own right, and a charity run by Ms Wang's siblings, which has ambitions to be Hong Kong's answer to the Nobel Foundation.

In the latest dramatic development, the High Court in Hong Kong yesterday threw out Mr Chan's claim to Ms Wang's £8bn fortune. Mr Chan, who once advised one of his feng shui clients to burn money, said he was the lover of Ms Wang, an eccentric property tycoon known as "Little Sweetie" because of her fondness for the kind of short skirts and pigtails that characters wear in Japanese manga cartoons. He said she had left him her estate in a will drawn up in 2006; he also claimed to have inherited a pair of those famous pigtails.

The judge did, at least, accept that Chan and Wang had a genuine relationship. But Judge Johnson Lam said that the will was a fake and that a 2002 testament, giving all of Ms Wang's money to a charity run by her siblings, should be followed instead. That version, he said, "truly reflected the long-held intention on the part of Nina to leave her estate to charity".

Outside the courtroom, Ms Wang's family told reporters of their satisfaction. "We have won now," Ms Wang's brother Kung Yan-sum said. "There is justice in this world."

The court battle was frequently fierce. The Chinachem Charitable Foundation's lawyers accused Mr Chan of being a charlatan who played on Ms Wang's strong belief in feng shui. And her siblings said she was mentally incapacitated when Mr Chan started to put pressure on her.

If that was, indeed, the case, the distant observer could be forgiven for missing the difference. Ms Wang was always one of the more eccentric figures on the Hong Kong society circuit. Her traditional Chinese cheongsam dresses, with daring slits up the side, were a regular sight at balls and charity events in Hong Kong, but she mostly had her friends run them up so she could save money.

Despite her untold wealth, Shanghai-born Ms Wang was famous for her parsimonious lifestyle, spending just £200 on herself every month, and as often to be seen eating in McDonald's as in one of Hong Kong's top-notch eateries. She favoured the cheap seats at gala events and conferences.

Ms Wang was said to have used feng shui in a failed attempt to find her husband, Teddy, who disappeared after he was kidnapped leaving the Hong Kong Jockey Club in 1990. It was the second time Teddy Wang had been abducted. Seven years earlier, he was recovered from inside a refrigerated lock-up after Nina paid a £5.5m ransom. But this time, Teddy was not seen again.

Mr Wang's father, Wang Din-shin, 96, campaigned hard to have his son declared dead. He launched a civil suit to claim his inheritance, and the internecine war over his financial legacy was the most sensational ever to rock the territory. The matter was complicated by the fact that there were two, possibly three, wills.

In one will, from 1968, Teddy left his father everything. His father said the will was written after he told his son of his wife's infidelity with a warehouse manager. Furious, Teddy tore up an earlier 1960 will that split his fortune between his wife and his father.

As if that was not complex enough, Nina had a different version, a will from 1990 after Teddy had fallen off a horse, just one month before he was kidnapped. He left everything to his wife, and wrote the phrase, in English, "One love, one life". A Hong Kong High Court judge ruled that this will was a fake, saying that part of it was "probably" written by Ms Wang. But in 2005, the city's Court of Final Appeal overturned the verdict and said Ms Wang should inherit all of the fortune.

Her work made it truly her fortune, too. As co-director of her husband's company, she made a series of canny deals that expanded Chinachem into Hong Kong's largest privately held property empire. She named a vast Hong Kong tower after herself, but she dedicated it to Teddy.

Ms Wang always maintained her husband was alive and would eventually return; but with yesterday's verdict, the late Ms Wang's story seems to be at an end. But for her lover, Mr Chan, there may be a few twists yet. "The truth will come out," he said yesterday. But if the Hong Kong police decide to charge him with forgery, and he is convicted, he could yet be locked up for 14 years.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/peopl ... 87653.html

 

[rynner2]

Enough material here for a stonking great block-buster!

..and the same here! Big money, famous names, a mysterious death, etc...

The mysterious case of the blonde, the millionaire cemetery owner and the ‘hitman’
By Ian Gallagher, Mail on Sunday Chief Reporter and Daniel Boffey, Mail on Sunday Reporter
Last updated at 11:10 PM on 06th March 2010

The son of the late, wealthy owner of Britain’s largest cemetery is locked in a vicious court battle with his father’s former lover over a multi-million fortune.

Erkin Guney, 43, insists that Diane Holliday does not deserve a penny of Ramadan Guney’s money.

But as Ms Holliday, 47, was in a relationship with Ramadan Guney for three years, giving birth to a son, she says she is entitled to ‘reasonable provision’ from his estate, which she claims is worth £28million.

Ms Holliday also claims to be the mother of Dodi Fayed’s love-child, and was once labelled a ‘gold-digger’ during another court case.

Prior to Mr Guney’s mysterious death aged 74 in Cyprus in November 2006, he owned Brookwood Cemetery in Woking, Surrey, the largest private burial ground in Britain, and where he himself is now buried.

It is understood that Ms Holliday first met Mr Guney at the cemetery after Dodi - who died in the 1997 car crash in Paris which killed Princess Diana - was buried there.

The bitterly disputed case is being played out in the Appeal Court against a background of extraordinary intrigue.

etc...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0hUXUyEj6

 

[rynner2]

Family feud over fortune of Swedish tramp who made millions from tin cans
To the people of Skellefteå he was "Tin-Can-Curt", the tramp who scavenged drink containers for recycling.
By Fiona Govan and Allan Hall
Published: 7:00AM BST 31 Mar 2010

He was a common sight on the streets of the Swedish coastal town where he was dismissed as little more than a bad-smelling eccentric.

But unbeknown to them, Curt Degerman was a financial genius who used the money he earned from collecting scrap metal from rubbish bins to trade on the international markets.

Now 18 months after his death, his relatives are fighting a legal battle over a secret £1 million estate he amassed by investing in stocks and shares.

For forty years he spent his days touring the bins on an old bicycle stuffing the containers he collected into bags tied between the handlebars.

But after he died of a heart attack aged 60, it emerged that through shrewd investment he had turned the modest deposits earned from returning the empty cans into a fortune estimated at more than £1.1 million. :shock:

Relatives discovered he had left behind a portfolio of stocks and shares worth at least £731,000 in a Swiss bank account and a safety deposit box containing 124 gold bars valued at £250,000. :shock: :shock:

He also had nearly £4,300 in a local current account and £275 of loose change at his home.

Mr Degerman, who never spent any money and ate leftovers from the bins of fast food restaurants, made his investments after a life time spent studying Swedish newspapers.

Clothed in torn trousers and a filthy blue anorak, he would pore over the financial pages of the dailies displayed in the town's public library.

"He went to the library every day because he didn't buy newspapers. There he read [Swedish business daily] Dagens Industri," his cousin told local media at the time of his death. "He knew the stock market inside out."

Relatives said Mr Degerman had been a very clever child with a bright future but had dropped out of school in his late teens after a personal crisis and had chosen an alternative way of life.

Mr Degerman made a will leaving his entire fortune to the cousin, who visited him regularly in the months before his death.

But when the full extent of the estate emerged the will was contested by another cousin who believed his father, Mr Degerman's uncle was entitled to it.

Under Swedish inheritance law the uncle, whose name has not been made public, held the legal right to inherit his nephew's riches.

A settlement between the two cousins was finally negotiated out of court this week. The pair have agreed to share the surprise fortune after being urged to make a private agreement by a magistrate at Skellefteå district court.

Neither would reveal the details of the settlement but both said they were "satisfied" with the outcome.

Skellefteå is also the birthplace of Stig Larsson, author of the international best-selling Millennium Trilogy crime novels. The family of the former journalist, who died of a heart attack in 2004 before seeing the success of his novels, are embroiled in a bitter feud with his girlfriend of 32 years over his estate which is now worth more than £30m.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -cans.html

 

[rynner2]

Australian millionaire leaves daughters 90p each in will
An Australian millionaire who died last year has left her three daughters just $1.50 (90p) each from her $3.5 million estate, cutting her children out of her will because she believed that they plotted to kill her mother.
By Bonnie Malkin in Sydney
Published: 7:00AM BST 27 Apr 2010

Valmai Roche, an Adelaide socialite, left the same amount to her ex-husband John Roche, a former property developer who served as the city's Lord Mayor from 1975-77.

Ms Roche bequeathed the remaining millions to the Knights of the Southern Cross, a Catholic Church charity organisation for men.

Her daughters, Deborah Hamilton, Fiona Roche and Shauna Roche, have mounted a case in the Supreme Court to gain access to her estate. They claim Ms Roche was delusional when she drew up the will.

Ms Roche, who died last year aged 81, left the women "30 pieces of silver of the lowest denomination of currency" or 30 five cent pieces claiming it was "blood money due to Judas", the Adelaide Advertiser reports.

The daughters were also left equal shares in their mother's jewellery, on condition they read and correctly answered questions relating to her personal diaries.

Ms Roche "specifically excludes" her children and former husband, whom she divorced in 1983, "from any further benefits" because her daughters "have been adequately provided for . . . and because of their estrangement" during her later years.

In court filings, Mrs Hamilton alleged that her mother held "fixed, false and incorrigible views that she could not be reasoned out of" relating to the death of Dorothy Maude Haber. Mrs Haber died in a nursing home but court documents do not reveal how or when she passed away.

Mrs Hamilton alleges her mother's "delusions" made her incapable of "making a reasonable and proper disposition of her estate".

The case will return to court next month.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -will.html

 

[rynner2]

Driving Miss Mary: Pensioner leaves regular cabbie her entire £250,000 estate in her will
By Luke Salkeld
Last updated at 9:01 PM on 16th June 2010

As a taxi driver with almost 30 years' experience under his seatbelt, Don Pratt has plenty of tips of the trade.
But perhaps the best advice he could give is that it pays to be nice to your customers.
Mr Pratt, 65, has now retired from the taxi rank after a regular fare left him more than £250,000 in her will.
Mary Watson, who died in December aged 86, was a customer of Mr Pratt's for two decades when she lived in Newquay.
And on the evidence of her final tip, he always went the extra mile.
Mrs Watson, who is understood not to have had any close family, left everything she had to Mr Pratt.

Yesterday the ex-cabbie, who is planning to travel around Britain in his retirement, said: 'She was always a good tipper in life and she was an even better tipper when she went.'
The father of four added: ' I knew Mary for 20 years. She was a very nice lady and was always very generous.
'We would always have a good chat while I ferried her around. One day she said to me "when I pass on, I'll look after you".
'I took it with a pinch of salt at the time - I had no idea she was going to leave me a fortune.
'When I was told she had left everything to me, I just couldn't believe it.
'We were sad to hear she had passed on but thankful she had left us this money.
' We are very grateful for her generosity. In nearly 30 years as a cabbie, this is certainly the biggest tip I've ever had.'

Mr Pratt, who is married to Gill, 63, took Mrs Watson to the shops every day until a few years ago when she moved to Northampton.
He said: 'She later went into a care home and we lost contact.
'But obviously she remembered me and left me one last big tip. She left me everything. I'm not sure what family she had or how they feel about it but the solicitor was clear that she wanted me to have what she left behind.
'This money means that we can retire and go travelling.
'I've had a great time being a taxi driver. I've been all over the country driving people. I'm going to miss them.
'Mary was a very nice person, everybody liked her and at her funeral so many people had lovely things to say about her.'

Mrs Watson spent the last two years of her life at the Argyle House care home in Northampton.
A spokesman said: 'Mary was a lovely person and all the staff and guests liked her very much.
'We didn't know anything about her leaving money to the taxi driver but there was a whole side to her life we didn't know about.
'It's a very generous thing to do and he obviously had a great impact on her. He must have been a very good driver.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0r5sRnjPj

 

[rynner2]

Unusual case:

Remains of chess champion Bobby Fischer to be exhumed
Page last updated at 00:46 GMT, Friday, 18 June 2010 01:46 UK

The remains of chess champion Bobby Fischer are to be exhumed in order to settle a paternity claim, an Icelandic court has ruled.

The Supreme Court in Reykjavik said a tissue sample was needed to prove whether nine-year-old Jinky Young was Fischer's daughter.

Fischer, who died in Iceland in 2008, left no will.

His estate, estimated to be worth $2 million (£1.4m), has been at the heart of several inheritance claims.

Fischer's former wife, relatives and the US government - which claims it is owed taxes - are also involved in the dispute.

Ms Young, a Filipina, is the daughter of Marilyn Young, who had a relationship with Fischer.

'Unavoidable'

"In order to obtain such a sample it is unavoidable to exhume his body," a court document said.

The verdict overturned a ruling by a district court, which said earlier this year that the grounds of the request were not strong enough.

Thordur Bogason, lawyer for Marilyn Young and her daughter, said the exhumation was a "last resort", saying they had hoped that blood samples had been kept in an Icelandic hospital.

He said they had presented evidence that his clients had received regular payments from Fischer in the years before he died.

US-born Fischer became world famous in 1972 after winning against Boris Spassky, in what became known as the "chess match of the century".

He was later accused by the US of violating international sanctions against Yugoslavia by playing a match there in 1992. He was granted citizenship in Iceland in 2005.

He died aged 64, and is buried in a church cemetery in southern Iceland, about 50km (30 miles) from Reykjavik.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/10347112.stm

 

[rynner2]

A more regular dispute:

Florida heiress leaves $3m and Miami mansion to chihuahua
An heiress has left her $8.3 million (£5 million) Miami Beach home and a $3 million trust fund to her three dogs.
By Paul Thompson in Miami
Published: 4:41PM BST 17 Jun 2010

Gail Posner, daughter of the corporate takeover king Victor Posner, died aged 67 in March, but her three dogs continue to have full-time staff, wear £10,000 Cartier necklaces and enjoy weekly spa treatments.

However, Conchita, a chihuaha, and two other dogs called April Maria and Lucia, might have to scale back on the luxuries if Posner's only son, Bret Carr, a filmmaker, gets his way.

He claims his mother was brainwashed into leaving so much of her fortune to her pets by her household staff, who were left a total of £20 million in her 2008 will. The document left him with just a £600,000 inheritance. In a lawsuit filed in Florida, he says his mother should have left the entire estate to him.

Mr Carr claims his mother's housekeeper and other personal aides drugged her with pain medication before getting her to change her will in favour of the dogs.

Posner's housekeeper Elizabeth Beckford was told she would get £3m if she agreed to care for the three dogs at the mansion. Her daughter, an assistant housekeeper, received £600,000.

Hernado Quintero, Posner's bodyguard, received £7m, Orion Sewell, a second bodyguard, got £5m and a personal trainer was bequeathed £1.3m.

But in court papers filed in Miami, Mr Carr claimed his mother was a "deeply disturbed" woman who was encouraged by her staff to buy diamond jewellery for her pets.

He alleged the staff coerced her into leaving a huge inheritance to the dogs, over which they would get control.

Posner, who inherited an estimated £50m fortune from her father, often boasted about the lavish lifestyle enjoyed by her dogs.

In a 2007 interview, she said she bought a $15,000 diamond-studded Cartier necklace for Conchita, but it didn't meet the dog's tastes.

"Conchita is the only girl I know who doesn't consider diamonds her best friend," she said.

She also bought the dog custom made wigs created by the Beatles' former make-up artist, Ruth Regina.

Mr Carr's lawyer, Bruce Katzen, said: "Gail had a serious drug problem. She had cancer and suffered from bipolar disorder and she was easily influenced."

All involved in the case declined to comment.

The case is bears similarities to the controversy surrounding the will left by hotel tycoon Leona Helmsely.

She left $12 million to her Maltese terrier, named Trouble, while ignoring two of her grandchildren.

A judge later reduced the amount to $2 million.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... uahua.html

 

[Kondoru]

This does sound rather disturbed, doesnt it?

 

[rynner2]

Family’s fury as Labour MP leaves £1m to Polish wife
By George Arbuthnott and Jonathan Petre
Last updated at 11:59 PM on 26th June 2010

A flamboyant former Labour MP has provoked a family feud by cutting his children out of his will and leaving almost all his £1.2?million fortune to his glamorous second wife – 50 years his junior.
Leo Abse, who died two years ago aged 91, had faced objections from his son and daughter from his first marriage when he wed Polish-born Ania Czepulkowska ten years ago.

The widower met Ania, a former electrician in Gdansk who later trained as a textiles designer, when she stopped to admire flowers outside his house overlooking the Thames.
Mr Abse left his children no money in his will, while his wife still lives in the £2?million Georgian property in Chiswick, West London.

His son Tobias, 53, a European history professor at London University, said: ‘Seeing that will was a tremendous shock. I assumed he would leave quite a bit to Ania but I had no idea he would leave her everything.’

He claimed he and his sister, Bathsheba Morabito, 52, had wanted to contest the document in court but were advised they would not be able to prove their father was of unsound mind when he signed it, as he had been writing a biography of Robinson Crusoe author Daniel Defoe.

Mr Abse said they then tried to negotiate a more generous settlement with Mrs Czepulkowska-Abse through Leo Abse and Cohen, the legal firm their father had founded in Wales.
But they gave up after she hired new lawyers and he and his sister could no longer afford their own law firm’s £200-an-hour costs. :shock:

Mr Abse said he was concerned that he might not receive books of sentimental value to him because, under the terms of the will, Mrs Czepulkowska-Abse was entitled to her choice of 300 titles.
He said she had removed items from the house and taken them to her lawyers.

Mr Abse also claimed she appeared to have lost a prized silver plate he won for gaining the best history degree during his time at Cambridge University.

Probate records released last week revealed that Leo Abse, MP for Pontypool from 1958 to 1983, and then Torfaen from 1983 to 1987, left £1,164,271.

etc...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0s8OUVK9I

 

[rynner2]

Family written out of eccentric sisters' joint will... and £400,000 left to their hairdresser
By Dan Newling
Last updated at 8:47 AM on 28th July 2010

The family and friends of two eccentric sisters have launched a bitter legal battle over a £400,000 will which left almost their entire inheritance to their hairdresser.

Jill Fraser, 72, became a close friend and confidante of Ethel Willson and Mabel Cook after she set their hair weekly for more than 40 years.
The elderly widows had a joint will in which they divided all their assets among close relatives and friends.

While Mrs Cook died in 1995, the will was dramatically altered just two months before Mrs Willson died in 2006.
Under the terms of the new will, travelling hairdresser Mrs Fraser stands to inherit almost £390,000, while 15 of the sisters' closest friends, godchildren and family members will get nothing.

Mrs Fraser claims she is entitled to the money because she was the only person to visit Mrs Willson in her dying days in hospital.
But the family contend that she exploited her friendship with their relative and didn't bother to tell anyone else that she had been admitted to hospital.

Yesterday the High Court heard that Mrs Cook and Mrs Willson, neither of whom had children, became 'almost like a married couple' when they moved in together to a large, semi- detached house in Epsom, Surrey, after their husbands died in the 1970s.
Mrs Fraser had got to know Mrs Cook when the pair were next door neighbours. They stayed in touch after the sisters moved in together.
As a mobile hairdresser, she drove to their house every week and would spend at least two hours with them, giving them each a shampoo and set. The three women had been friends for so long time that she did not charge for the hairdressing.

Angela Charles, an English teacher who was one of the beneficiaries of the original will, described the sisters as two 'quite eccentric' elderly ladies who were devoted to each other.

Lynne Counsell, barrister for the family, said the sisters made a joint will in 1991 which was intended as a 'binding agreement' to divide their estates jointly between 15 people.
When Mrs Cook died in 1995, aged 83, her beneficiaries were told they would have to wait to receive their share of her estate until the younger sister Mrs Willson died.

However, only two months before Mrs Willson died, aged 92, in November 2006, the will was radically remade in Mrs Fraser's favour, the court was told.
Miss Counsell said that at the time Mrs Willson remade the will, she was so 'frail and vague' that she was unfit to state her wishes.

And Iris Rayment, who was one of the sisters' closest friends and to whom Mrs Willson would talk on the phone every day, told the court: 'When they were alive they would often talk about their wills and they said that they must not be touched or altered in any way. I am certain of that.'

Mrs Fraser claimed that during Mrs Willson's last months alive she was the only person to visit the dying woman in hospital.
However, Miss Counsell claimed that she was 'casting aspersions' on the family. She said that 'no one knew she was in hospital' and asked Mrs Fraser: 'You didn't inform anyone else that she was in hospital, did you?'

Giving evidence, Mrs Fraser said that her partner went to Mrs Willson's house the day after her death and opened her safe, explaining: 'He knew where the key was.'
This prompted Deputy High Court Judge Jonathan Gaunt, QC, to ask her: 'You thought that it was appropriate to go to her house and open her safe?'
'Yes,' said Mrs Fraser, before adding: 'Because I was the executor.'
The judge said: 'You went to look for the will?'
Mrs Fraser replied: 'Yes, to see if the will was there.'
The hearing continues.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0uyAXyqEU

How much will be left of £390,000 after the lawyers have been paid?
My plan is to spend all my money before I go - it'll save a lot of arguments!

 

[rynner2]

Something that might affect any of us:

Call for tighter will-writing laws as consumers duped
By Vivian White, BBC Panorama

The private will-writing industry across Britain should be more tightly regulated as consumers are losing thousands of pounds to charlatans, a Scottish minister has told Panorama.

Consumers have complained of cheap will offers with escalating hidden costs. Beneficiaries have also had payouts stolen.

The Scottish Government is legislating to offer greater protection, but Fergus Ewing MSP, its minister for community and safety protection said the rest of the UK also needed to be protected.

The Legal Services Board (LSB), which oversees all legal services in England and Wales, has said it would look at "whether a different regulatory approach to will writing is needed".

Mr Ewing said the rest of Britain should follow Scotland's example. "The public have a right to be protected," he said, "in Scotland they will be.

"Anyone who is charging a fee for writing a will must be regulated. They must have appropriate qualification, they must have proper indemnity in place. At present none of this protection exists.

"I hope that justice will be done for people - throughout Britain, ideally - in protection against crooks, cowboys and conmen."

The Panorama investigation uncovered cases where initial will-writing fees of £75-£100 escalated to thousands of pounds, with clients and families of the deceased then being charged fee percentages for handling estates after death, which they were never told about.

One firm lost a will lost even though a fee was being charged for it to be safely stored. Other beneficiaries struggled to receive the money owed to them, and cheques from the firm they were dealing with bounced.

Wills of Distinction, a firm based in Lincoln, stole hundreds of thousands of pounds from its beneficiaries.

These included a hospice for the dying, St John's in north London, which had been left £130,000 by a man with terminal cancer, Paul Jefferson. It relies on charitable donations, but never received a penny.

Mary Neenan, a single mother from Birmingham, was also unexpectedly left a large sum when her friend Herbert Reeves died, but never received anything.

She said: "I brought my two daughters up on my own, and I would never have had that amount of money in my life. To have something like that £35,000-£40,000, would have been a life-changing amount of money for the three of us."

Ms Neenan went to the police, who uncovered the extent of the firm's fraud.

Panorama: Wills - The Final Rip Off?, BBC One, Monday, 9 August at 2030 BST
Or watch on BBC iPlayer

Two men, David Nash, the firm's founder, and Nicholas Butcher, a previously struck-off solicitor whom he employed, were sentenced in July 2010 to three and a half years in prison for their fraud and theft.

Neil Hollingsworth of the Economic Crimes Unit of Lincolnshire Police said:

"It's a despicable crime... I believe they thought they would get away with it.

"A lot of the times, probably 90% of those cases, the beneficiaries didn't know they were beneficiaries and so they weren't asking questions. I guess they probably thought they'd got the perfect crime."

Private will-writing companies now claim to write about 10% of all new wills, and the industry has grown with the increase in home and shared ownership.

More people now have something to leave behind and they are new competitors to old-established providers.
In the past, people either wrote their own wills, or traditionally, if they wanted professional help they had to go to a solicitor. But solicitors are governed by law; will-writing firms are not.

Richard Elmer, a solicitor at Burton and Co in Lincoln said: "We will strive mightily to get everything exactly as it should be.

"But like all solicitors, we are fully insured, we are fully regulated and there is ultimately the solicitors' compensation fund were there to be, God forbid, some mistake made by us."

This is the key difference which solicitors always point to, that on top of their professional training they have a profession-wide indemnity scheme, and profession-wide protection for clients.

There are self-styled professional bodies that represent private will-writers and amongst these there are examples of good practice and attempts at effective self-regulation.

However, there is no regulation by law and consumers are typically unaware of this fact and often appear to believe that will-writing companies are themselves legal firms.

Scotland's new regulations will come in to effect next year.

The Legal Services Board said it would soon be calling for evidence to assess whether regulation is necessary.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10885494

 

[rynner2]

A bit of forgotten history too...

Famous wills: They couldn't take it with them...
The last wishes of some of history's most eminent figures have been released. Kevin Rawlinson surveys their legacies
Wednesday, 11 August 2010

A record of more than 6 million Victorian and early 20th-century wills has been made public for the first time, revealing the last wishes of some of the most important figures of the age, including Charles Dickens, Karl Marx and Charles Darwin.

The documents, dating from 1861 to 1941 and now available on-line, show that eminent Victorians Dickens and Darwin left estates worth the equivalent of millions of pounds today. Perhaps fittingly, Karl Marx left the more modest equivalent of about £9,000.

The index also lists the wills of the Conservative politician Neville Chamberlain, and the writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes.

Chamberlain, before serving as Prime Minister from 1937 to 1940, lost £50,000 of his father's money in an attempt to become a farmer in the Bahamas, but later bought a manufacturing firm with funds from other relatives. On his death in 1940 he left £84,013 – worth just over £4m in today's money. Conan Doyle, a physician who turned to writing as his medical practice faltered, was relatively successful. He left his widow and one of his sons £63,491, or almost £3m today.

The database, released online by the genealogical website Ancestry.co.uk, is a collation of the England and Wales's National Probate Calendar – a summary of all of wills processed each year.

It shows that the popularity of D H Lawrence's writings came too late for the author to benefit fully. He left behind a relatively paltry £2,438 on his death in 1930, worth around £113,000 today.

Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic expeditions brought him fame but ultimately not fortune. The explorer, who led the ill-fated voyage of discovery on the ship Endurance, died leaving his widow a rather meagre bequest of about £20,000 in today's money. By contrast, Darwin left a will worth the equivalent of £13m, and Dickens left £7.1m in today's money.

Dan Jones, of Ancestry.co.uk, said the data "is a fantastic resource for family historians, but is also fascinating to anyone with an interest in social history or just in famous names".

It offers "a great insight into the social standing of people in their own time... The details can add to the legend: people would probably be fairly upset if they found out that Karl Marx was secretly squirrelling away vast sums of money."

"We've only just started digging," Mr Jones added. The wills can provide "evidence of unknown transgressions or scandals in the private lives of people who, in many cases, we thought we knew all about," he said.

etc...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/peopl ... 49101.html

 

[rynner2]

Unusual case:

Remains of chess champion Bobby Fischer to be exhumed
Page last updated at 00:46 GMT, Friday, 18 June 2010 01:46 UK

The remains of chess champion Bobby Fischer are to be exhumed in order to settle a paternity claim, an Icelandic court has ruled.

The Supreme Court in Reykjavik said a tissue sample was needed to prove whether nine-year-old Jinky Young was Fischer's daughter.
...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/10347112.stm

DNA test 'proves Fischer not girl's father'

A DNA test has determined that the late chess champion Bobby Fischer is not the father of a nine-year-old Filipino girl, her lawyer has said.

The Supreme Court in Reykjavik had ordered Mr Fischer's body exhumed to prove whether Jinky Young was Mr Fischer's daughter.

However, lawyer Thordur Bogason said the report "excluded Bobby Fisher".

The US-born chess player died in Iceland in 2008 but left no will. His estate is estimated at $2m (£1.4m).

"The DNA report excluded Bobby Fisher from being the father of Jinky Young, and therefore the case has come to a close," said Mr Bogason.

The other claimants to Mr Fischer's estate are Japanese woman Myoko Watai, who claims to be Mr Fischer's widow, and the chess master's two nephews.

The US government is also claiming unpaid taxes from the estate.

Jinky is the daughter of Marilyn Young, who had a relationship with Fischer while he was living in the Philippines.

Jinky lives in the Philippines with her mother but flew to Iceland last year to provide her own sample.

The court case over the inheritance dispute is still before a Reykjavik court and proceedings are expected to continue next month, Icelandic newspaper Morgunbladid reported.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11006166

 

[rynner2]

So much for the rich and famous. And for the rest of us...

Pets win prizes – 1.5m to leave assets to pet when they die
Poll by Unbiased.co.uk on the contents of people's wills throws up some surprising figures
Mark King guardian.co.uk, Friday 29 October 2010 07.00 BST

Almost 1.5 million people plan to leave their assets to their pets when they die, according to a survey published today.

While children top the list of people we want our money to go to when we pass away, with 29 million adults planning to leave their inheritance to their offspring, pets come a surprising sixth in the poll, conducted by Unbiased.co.uk.

Including children, spouses or partners and other relatives, 87% of people named their family as the people they want their assets to go to, whereas one million people nominated the church and nearly 4.5 million a specific charity.

Just over 3 million people would like friends to benefit from their estate while just under half a million people chose a "secret lover". Just over 170,000 people did not want their money to go to anyone.

But while over nine out of ten people (92%) have a clear idea of who they would like to see their money go to when they die, over 30 million people currently are without a will in the UK, meaning their best intentions on who should inherit may not come to fruition.

The survey is part of Unbiased's Write a Will Week, highlighting the importance of having an up-to-date will in place – dying intestate means the government will decide the order of who gets what from your estate and if no one comes forward then the government will take the lot.

Karen Barrett, chief executive of Unbiased, said: "Family structures are constantly evolving, less people [sic] are getting married, and an increasing number of people wish to leave money to charities or friends, therefore it has never been more important to clearly state your wishes in a will."

Under current rules, children not named in a will are only entitled to an inheritance if there is no surviving spouse or if the estate is worth more than £250,000. Yet the cost of seeking legal advice to write a will can be as low as £120 for singles and £200 for couples.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/oc ... t-when-die

 

[Kondoru]

So 1.5 million are leaving to their pests while only 1 million leaving to the church?

(What? even nonxitians?????)

out of a population of 60 million that is a big number.

I havent written a will, yet I do have an Estate, and none to leave it to, Im thinking of leaving it to the Village.

However Im not sure they would apprechiate it, and to my mind apprechiation is more worthy than worthwhileness.

Certainly the Church, pets or charities wont care.

 

[Fluttermoth]

I'd appreciate it

:lol:

 

[rynner2]

It’s the last will and tankard of Sir Cyril Smith: Former MP left £310,000 in his will and donated 80 Toby jugs to 'good homes'
By Mail On Sunday Reporter
Last updated at 1:14 AM on 31st October 2010

Former Liberal MP Sir Cyril Smith left £310,000 in his will and a request for his collection of 80 Toby jugs to go to good homes.

The lifelong bachelor, who was known as ‘Big Cyril’ and was MP for Rochdale from 1972 to 1992, made sure his tankards were his first bequests.
He left most of them to his niece Gillian Fedyniak but allowed his brother Norman to choose three and great niece Lisa Hambleton to pick two.

Sir Cyril, who was made an MBE in 1966 and knighted in 1988, died aged 82 on September 3. He left most of his fortune to Norman, but also left bequests to other relatives and good causes.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z13vYtagwj

 

[rynner2]

Daughter cut out of mother's will for naming her child badly
A woman whose mother left her out of her half-million-pound estate because she disliked the name of one of her grandchildren won a landmark legal victory yesterday.
6:55AM BST 01 Apr 2011

Melita Jackson, who died in 2004 at the age of 70, left her estate of £486,000 to animal charities, making no provision for Heather Ilott, her only child.
Three of the country’s most senior judges said Mrs Ilott, 50, should receive a share of the will, in a decision which could lead to more people challenging relatives’ bequests.

The Appeal Court in London was told that Mrs Jackson cut her daughter out of her will because she did not agree with the name she gave to her fifth child, Ellen, who is now 14.

Mrs Ilott, who lives in Great Munden, Herts, challenged the will and a county court judge ruled that she should receive £50,000, but she went to the High Court and asked for more.
Her claim was opposed by the Blue Cross, the RSPB and the RSPCA, the charities that benefited from Mrs Jackson’s estate. The High Court ruled in favour of them and held that Mrs Ilott was entitled to nothing.

Yesterday, the President of the Family Division, Sir Nicholas Wall, sitting with Lady Justice Arden and Lady Justice Black, allowed Mrs Ilott’s appeal against that decision.
The case will return to the High Court for a decision over how much Mrs Ilott should receive, although the judges urged Mrs Ilott and the charities to try to settle the case amicably without the need for a further hearing.

Sir Nicholas warned Mrs Ilott that she could incur significant legal costs. He said: “I urge the parties to consider carefully whether a further hearing is in anyone’s interests. No doubt substantial additional costs will be incurred and compromise, now that the appellant has won her major point, must be in the interests of everyone.”

Lady Justice Arden said she would “encourage the parties and their advisers in the strongest terms to do all that is possible to dispose of these issues without further litigation”.

Mrs Ilott saw little of her mother after she left home aged 17 to live with her boyfriend. At a hearing in February, John Collins, representing Mrs Ilott, told the judges that his client’s final breakdown with her mother was over the naming of her daughter, Ellen, after Mrs Jackson’s sister-in-law, whom she did not like.
“It is a picture of irrationality. It was not because she supported the charities, but simply out of spite,” he said.

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... badly.html

I'm in the position of having a grandchild whose name I hate, for reasons I won't go into. I had planned to make a will when the baby was born, but now, nearly two years later, I still haven't, because I can't bear to mention that name. (If there's any loot left when I kick the bucket, it will still go to my kids, even if I don't leave a will.)

Irrational? Not from where I'm standing. It's rooted in an event that has f*cked up half my life - enough said.