Mum's fury after daughters given £50 each from late grandad's £500,000 fortune
The father of five daughters given £50 each from their grandfather’s vast fortune would be “turning in his grave” if he knew what had happened, claims a source close to his widow.
"Strong-willed" Frederick Ward Snr died in 2020 aged 91 with around £500,000 in his bank account but left his grandchildren a relative pittance as he was hurt they did not visit more. The decision sparked a family row and, after learning they had been all but , the five - sisters Carol Gowing, Angela St Marseille, Amanda Higginbotham, Christine Ward and Janet Pett - sued. They claimed they should get their late dad's one-third share of their grandfather's money.
Their case was thrown out by High Court judge James Brightwell, who said it was "entirely rational" for the "disappointed" grandad to cut out his grandkids due to their "very limited contact" with him in his last years. Now a source close to the family says Fred Jr’s widow Ann Ward would have been “outraged”.
The source told MailOnline : “Ann is very clear. If her late husband was still alive he would have been absolutely fuming his daughters had been disinherited like this. He would be turning in his grave.
“She has no doubts whatsoever about that. It is not about the money. She believes her girls were fighting for what their dad would have wanted and what their grandfather had originally promised.”
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Carol Gowing outside London's High Court (Champion News)
Susan Wiltshire outside court (Champion News)Fred Snr, an "independent and strong minded" former soldier, cable joiner and regular social club user who lived in Willow Road, South Ealing, London, died aged 91 in 2020. He had three children, Fred Jr, Terry and Susan, and had previously made a will which split his estate, including his £450,000 maisonette, between all three. But Fred Jr - father to the five sisters - died before his dad in 2015, following which the family fell out and Mr Ward did not see much of Fred Jr's side of the family.
When his will was read out by Terry after his death, a bitter shouting match broke out - which was recorded and played to the court - when it was revealed that the five sisters had been all but cut out. From a fortune valued at around £500,000, they were handed envelopes containing just £50 each in cash by their Uncle Terry.
They then sued, claiming their grandad's final 2018 will was invalid, having been made when he was "an ill man" and "frightened" of Terry, who "coerced" him into making it. They also pointed the finger at their aunt, Mr Ward's daughter and carer in the last years of his life Susan, accusing her of exerting "undue influence" over their grandad.
Their barrister told the judge Terry had developed a particular "hate" for his niece Carol Gowing after a family falling out over a property, and said there was a "palpable...dislike between the two sides of the family"
Clearing both Terry and Susan of influencing their dad into cutting out his granddaughters, he said: "The evidence does not come close to persuading me that it is more likely than not that the 2018 will was procured by the undue influence of the defendants or either of them." The judge also rejected claims Mr Ward did not have "capacity" to make the will in 2018 or it was invalid for "want of knowledge and approval" of its effect.
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