I couldn’t help laughing as I read of the five sisters who were so enraged by their grandfather leaving them just £50 each in his £500,000 will that they went to the High Court, lost and now face a £200,000 legal bill to be split between them.
My reaction; serves them right. It was Fred Ward’s last will and testimony and he knew exactly what he was doing.
The grandchildren had hardly anything to do with him, despite the fact he was old and none too well. And he didn’t appreciate that. Good for him.
So, correctly Fred, 91, decided bugger you lot I will leave it all to your aunt and uncle, his own surviving children.
Anne Robinson is best known for formerly presenting The Weakest LinkPAA hilarious aspect of the row was that at the will reading, with all the grandchildren sitting round in sackcloth and ashes expecting a big handout, it was revealed they were only going to get £50.
At that, a huge shouting match started and the recording of the row was played out in court. It was like something out of Fools and Horses. I wish I had been there it would have been bloody funny.
With the value of houses being so enormous these days, there will plenty more cases like this going to the High Court in the future. The lawyers will make a fortune.
A few years back I put together a TV format called Where There’s A Will There’s A War, but couldn’t find any takers among the great and the good in television.
Perhaps it would have a better chance if it was renamed Where There’s A Will There’s A Relative.
I have my own experience with inheritance, or lack of it. My own father sent me and my two brothers a letter explaining we wouldn’t be receiving any of his money (not sure there was much anyway) because he felt we had all done fine in life and it was all going to his second wife.
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A little known inheritance tax loophole saved British families millions last yearPAI was relaxed about it, having always viewed inheritance as an odd way to make your money, but at least one of my brothers still feel very vexed, some three decades on.
But this case must surely be a warning to greedy grandchildren (and children generally) that there are many better causes out there if there is no umbilical cord of love or affection.
In this particular case the grandchildren tried and failed to prove that Fred had caved in to ‘’ undue influence’’ from the aunt and uncle to produce a will favourable to them.
Winning was always going to be a high bar. I don’t get the impression the sisters had much money in the first place so why didn’t their lawyers tell them how big the risk of losing was?
This morning, they will be settling down to a cup of tea working out how to pay their costs of £86,000 and the other side’s costs, north of £100,000.
What is their chance of getting their hands on £40,000? That will almost certainly be a debt that lasts a lifetime.
Although those sisters don’t emerge too well, I do admire Anne Robinson, the TV presenter, who has candidly admitted that she has given away much of her £50million inheritance to avoid the taxman having it.
I know Anne. Not only worked has she worked hard, but her negotiating skills when fronting the Weakest Link were astonishing. She made a fortune.
That money is now going to her daughter Emma (I employed her at the cable channel Live TV and had lunch with her after the death of her dad, the former Times Editor Charlie Wilson) and her two grandchildren.
The way Anne is doing it means no tax will be paid as long as she lives more than seven years.
Since she’s 79 (not sure when the money was handed over) if she doesn’t make 86 Emma will have to pay a percentage of the money back to HMRC.
Isn’t this all so much calmer and reasonable than a load of shouting relatives hearing that they wouldn’t be buying new cars thanks to a grandfather they hardly knew.