'Disappointed' grandfather, 91, who was 'hurt' his grandchildren didn't visit ... trends now

A 'disappointed' grandfather who was 'hurt' that his grandchildren didn't visit him more often, was entitled to leave them just £50 each of his £500,000 fortune, a judge has ruled.

Former soldier Frederick Ward Snr left almost all of his fortune to his children Terry Ward and Susan Wiltshire when he died in 2020, discounting his dead son Fred Jr's children, sparking a family row. 

The 91-year-old told his legal representatives that he was upset because he had not been visited by his late son's grandchildren while in hospital three times with a lung condition.

After learning they had been all but disinherited — the five sisters Carol Gowing, Angela St Marseille, Amanda Higginbotham, Christine Ward and Janet Pett — sued, claiming they were entitled to their late father's one-third share of their grandfather's money.

But High Court judge, Master James Brightwell, ruled the 2018 will was 'entirely rational' given the grandchildren had 'very limited contact' with their 'disappointed' grandfather in his later years.

Master Brightwell threw out the sisters' case and said: '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.

'However, the decision not to do so and to split the residue and thus the bulk of the estate between his surviving children can hardly be said to be provision which no reasonable testator could make.'

The sisters argued that the 2018 will was 'invalid' and their Uncle Terry and Aunt Susan had 'unduly influenced' their grandfather into changing his will to give them their share of his estate.

But Judge Brightwell said 'the evidence does not come close to

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