Inheritance Dispute: Grandchildren Receive £50 From £500k Fortune Due To Lack Of Visits

A family inheritance fight just went nuclear over something most people would never expect to matter that much: visits. Frederick Ward Snr left his five granddaughters only £50 each, after the judge found his will was driven by one thing, their very limited contact while he was in and out of hospital for a lung condition.

Here’s the messy setup. Ward had a fortune worth nearly £500,000, including a £450,000 flat, and when his son Fred Jr. died in 2015, Ward’s relationship with Fred Jr.’s side of the family soured. By the time Ward passed in 2020, the 2018 will basically cut the granddaughters down to almost nothing, while two of his other children got nearly everything.

The granddaughters sued anyway, and now the court has decided whether £50 was “rational” or just spite with paperwork.

Frederick Ward Snr, disappointed by his grandchildren's infrequent visits, left them a mere £50 each in his will, a judge has ruled. His decision sparked a family feud as he allocated almost his entire £500,000 fortune, including a £450,000 flat, to two of his children upon his passing in 2020.

Ward discounted his deceased son Fred Jr.'s five daughters, expressing his upset over their lack of visits during his hospitalizations for a lung condition.

When Frederick Ward Snr’s will was read after his 2020 death, Carol Gowing and the other four granddaughters realized their “visit problem” had a price tag of £50 each.

Upon learning of their near-disinheritance, Fred's five granddaughters – Carol Gowing, Angela St Marseille, Amanda Higginbotham, Christine Ward, and Janet Pett – took legal action, claiming entitlement to a third of their late grandfather's estate. High Court judge Master James Brightwell has now ruled that the 2018 will was "entirely rational," emphasizing the grandchildren's "very limited contact" with their "disappointed" grandfather.

Dismissing their case, Master Brightwell remarked, "Some may take the view that, as a general proposition, when a testator's child has predeceased him, he generally ought to leave an equal share of his residue to that child's issue."

The feud really ignited after the 2018 will left Fred Jr.’s five daughters out of the main share, even though Ward had once split his estate evenly among his three children.

It also echoes a lottery winner refusing to share with a struggling brother.

"The decision not to equally distribute the residue of the estate among his surviving children cannot be considered unreasonable," stated Judge Brightwell. "The sisters argued that the 2018 will was 'invalid' and accused Uncle Terry Ward and Aunt Susan Wiltshire of 'undue influence' over their grandfather's decision to change his will.

However, Judge Brightwell concluded that 'the evidence does not come close to persuading me' that Terry had coerced his father or that Susan had controlled him to the extent of casting doubt on his will."

That’s when Terry Ward and Susan Wiltshire got dragged into it, with the granddaughters accusing them of undue influence when Frederick changed his will.

Fred Snr had previously created a will that divided his estate evenly among all three of his children. However, when Fred Jr. passed away before his father in 2015, family tensions arose, resulting in Mr. Ward having limited contact with Fred Jr.'s side of the family.

When Mr. Ward's will was read by Terry after his death, a bitter argument ensued, captured on recording and presented to the court, as it was revealed that the five sisters had been largely excluded. Each sister received an envelope containing £50 in cash from their Uncle Terry.

And after Master James Brightwell rejected the invalidity and coercion claims, the family feud didn’t end, it just got a judge’s stamp on it.

Master Brightwell noted that the sisters' lack of visits to their grandfather in the hospital was partly due to not being informed of his admissions, which occurred frequently, and also because communication between the parties had ceased. Additionally, he observed that the five sisters had made only sporadic and brief visits to see their grandfather, whereas he maintained a close relationship with his son Terry and daughter-in-law Susan.

"It is highly probable that Fred became disillusioned with the claimants due to the changed circumstances following Fred Jr.'s passing and the minimal contact with them thereafter," stated Master Brightwell. He cleared both Terry and Susan of any influence over their father in excluding his granddaughters, asserting, "The evidence does not come close to persuading me that it is more likely than not that the 2018 will was influenced by the undue influence of the defendants or either of them."

Additionally, the judge dismissed claims regarding Mr. Ward's capacity to create the 2018 will or its validity due to a lack of knowledge and approval of its consequences.

Now the granddaughters are stuck wondering if love and lung disease were really supposed to cost them £49 each.

Want another money fight, read about splitting family bills fairly when income gaps spark tension.