Granddaughters left with £200,000 legal bill after arguing over £50 inheritance

[SerendipityJane]

Pretty certain there was an Ealing comedy about this ....

https://metro.co.uk/2024/05/21/granddaughters-angry-getting-50-will-now-face-200-000-legal-bill-20878694

Exactly. They gouldnt be bothered to see him. He is entitled to decide they can't have any money? They have shown themselves up to ve the type of people they are.

The relationship was honoured- they didn't have one, becsuse they ignored him in life, so they got nothing. Good.

Delighted to hear it.

This is the judgement if anyone is interested

https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2024/347.html

Yeah I could see that that’s what happened in this case.

I’d want to know a bit more about what happened when their father died. It seems they had a good relationship before this, and there was some upset between family members. All just sounds v sad.

It all sounds very sad to me, the grandfather rejected his grandchildren (who had lost their father) I imagine the case was as much about this as the money. One of them lived in Canada - how often was she meant to visit? And he was deaf so presumably not great on the phone!

@DreadPirateRobots

"This is why you don't contest a will. Nobody wins but the lawyers. It takes a special kind of arrogance to take it this far, though."

I agree about the lawyers. The lawyers are always the main winners.
However, I was once advised that if a significant person was missed out altogether, then the will can be contested (ie the person may have just forgotten them). In this case, the granddaughters were each left 50.00, and a reason given for why it was not more, so the Judge decided the reasons were justified, etc.
In the UK, there is no law that states children have to be left anything at all.
The testator can leave it all to someone else entirely, but they should state their reasons for doing so.
Unless the sisters had any evidence that undue pressure was exerted on the grand father, then their case stood no chance at all.

Money-grabbing chavs get saddled with legal bill.

Sounds as though he deliberately left small gifts so that nobody could suggest he'd forgotten them, which could be grounds for contesting the will.

When my paternal grandmother died I hadn't seen in her 25 years. Neither myself or my two brothers were mentioned in her Will.

That was a few years ago and my mother is still annoyed about it...as I've constantly told her, we didn't have a relationship - and that's because it was actually my mother who emotionally blackmailed us to cut all contact with my father's family when he left her for another woman!

Totally agree with you, @DramaLlamaBangBang.

"I don't believe in generational wealth"

This is clearly a political belief.

If somebody inherited a large estate (e.g. the a Duke of Westminster) and decided to give it all away, then it would be a selfish indulgence.

All future generations would be saddled with monetary concerns and I don't think it's one person's 'right' to make that decision for their children and future heirs.

If you don't believe in inheritance, then vote for a political party that promises to end it or tax it heavily.

🤣 spot on

@ThisOldThang of course the individual who owns the money has every right to say what happens to it. No one is entitled to someone else's money. Fair play to the other poster who wants to donate to charity and help others.

It sounds like the grandchildren made a decision to reject him. Of course they should've visited him

Absolute entitlement of some people. Yes you can move abroad. No you're not entitled to expect to inherit from someone you can't be bothered to visit.

My late mil left most of her small estate to my husband and only £5k to his brother. We cared for her in her later years, but had no idea about her will until she passed away. Her other son was very distant with his mother, and made little effort. Her solicitor told us she was most concerned that the disinherited brother could contest the will, so he made every effort to make it iron-clad. She left us the money because we had children and her other son did not (and never would). He and his wife were most upset, and didn't even send flowers let alone come to her funeral. Our children have never received any birthday cards since (this was twenty years ago) and the two brothers haven't spoken in all that time. Her entire estate was around £180k, so a very welcome, but not a life-changing amount of money (our house is valued at £1.3m and my bil and his wife are very high earners with no children). Half of the money would have been perfectly fine. The brothers had such terribly harsh words after the will was read, that any initial thoughts of sharing the money equally were quickly rejected. My point here, is that not sharing wills equally and fairly can have devastating consequences and create rifts that sadly, can last a lifetime.

Actually in Scotland you can’t disinherit your kids, still part of the UK. Kids get 1/3 of the moveable estate ( so not houses etc.)

They were foolish to contest it.
I know of two people who inherited and had greedy relatives crawl out of the woodwork, one was my mum. She had been a carer for a neighbour for years, going in four times a day to help her. This lady was single with no children, one niece who never visited in the twenty years my mum knew the lady. Thankfully they were advised not to contest the will but were deeply unpleasant to my mum.
My best friend is widowed, with no children. His sister-in-law thinks her junkie son is going to inherit everything but my friend told me a couple of years ago he is leaving everything to me. I was utterly blindsided by this, and really reluctant, but he is adamant. He has taken steps that his solicitor assured him means the will is watertight, but I still feel a bit uneasy about it. And who's to say I'll outlive him anyway?!

If I read it correctly, Uncle Terry sat them down to read the Will to them...presumably to show them what they didn't get. That is what triggered the animosity.
It doesn't sound like a pleasant family all round.

To be fair to these women, it was only the last three years that things went sour - apparently due to a property dispute with the uncle when their father died which led to them seeing less of the grandfather.

Personally I'd hate my legacy to be bitterness and upset for anyone in my family, and all l for the sake of money which means nothing to a dead man.

Why would a property dispute with their uncle mean they saw less of their grandfather?
Sounds like the grabbyness didn’t just manifest itself at their grandfather’s death, it was well in evidence prior to that.

I didn't know people still did the whole 'will reading' thing with all the relatives present to se who was getting what. I just thought the executors got on with it and let each beneficiary know separately. Hey ho.

You have no idea what people's reactions will be. Even if you think you've divvied it up fairly, someone will almost always complain that "ohhh but and so stayed at home for 5 years more than me and saved xxx money , so I should get more because I couldn't save xxx for a house"

Like what my father says 'where there's a will,there is a greedy relative'

This case proves it

One of our family friends wasted nearly £80k challenging her late fathers will where he left everything to her stepmother. She believed that he had been co-erced into signing it. In the end, her DH stepped in and refused to allow her access to any more of their life savings. She is still angry and bitter, but the only winners were the solicitors.

What an arsehole of a father.