A strange will recently landed on the desks of British courts following the death of its owner, a retired soldier who served in the British Army. It appears he left this world angry with his granddaughters, whom he felt did not provide him with the care he deserved.
According to details published by the British newspaper "The Daily Telegraph," Frederick Ward passed away in 2020 at the age of 91, leaving behind a fortune exceeding half a million pounds (about $650,000). However, his granddaughters were shocked to find that their inheritance amounted to only 50 pounds each, indicating his decision to effectively cut them out of the wealth.
The grandfather had suffered from neglect from his granddaughters after his sons had passed away while he remained alive. In response, he wrote a will stipulating that each granddaughter would receive only 50 pounds. The deprived granddaughters turned to the court following his death, but the judge eventually ruled that the retired soldier, who had not been visited much by them, was entitled to leave them only 50 pounds each from his estate of 500,000 pounds.
Ward, who died at the age of 91, had expressed to his legal representatives that he was upset because his son’s daughters did not visit him during his three hospital stays due to lung disease. After learning they had been disinherited, the five sisters filed a lawsuit, claiming they should receive one-third of their deceased father's share of their grandfather's wealth. They argued that their uncle and aunt "improperly influenced" their grandfather to change his will against their interests.
However, their case was dismissed by High Court Judge James Brightwell, who stated that it was "perfectly rational" for the frustrated grandfather to act in this manner due to their "very limited contact" with him in his later years.
In his ruling, the judge described the will from 2018 as reasonable under the circumstances, noting that the granddaughters had not seen their grandfather much after their father's death in 2015. He mentioned that they did not visit him in the hospital because they were not informed of his presence there, attributing this to how often he had been hospitalized and the lack of communication between the parties.
The five sisters had only made occasional brief visits to see their grandfather. The judge concluded that it was likely that, given the changing circumstances following the son's death and the limited communication with the claimants afterward, the grandfather felt disappointed with his granddaughters.
