A father was totally cognisant of what he was doing in excluding his daughters from his will when he made specific provisions for the division of his estate.
The Court of Appeal made this decision in the case of two daughters who considered that their father had been subjected to undue influence shortly before his death.
The court heard that the father had a significant number of shares in a company. While in hospital a few days before he died, he drew up a will containing an option for his shares to be bought back by the company.
These details of the will were discussed between the father and a company shareholder, who gave evidence of the discussion, and confirmed he had clearly understood that he was making no provision for his daughters and his objective was to avoid any disruption to the company.
The judge held that the shareholder’s evidence was unsatisfactory because he was aware that he would benefit from the will but had tried to pretend that he would not. Even so, the judge accepted his account of the discussions with the father and considered that there were no suspicious circumstances and therefore the will should be allowed to stand.
The Court of Appeal upheld the decision and stated that the shareholder’s evidence had been supported by another independent witness, thereby making it clear that the father had intended to exclude his two daughters.
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Case featured:
Daughters lose appeal after being left out of father’s will
[2016] EWCA Civ 701
(1) SANDRA MAY FITZGERALD (2) CASSIE FITZGERALD (3) OLIVIA FITZGERALD v (1) PAUL HENERTY (2) CATHERINE FITZGERALD-TAHER (3) MARGARET MATTHEWS (4) HELEN STARKEY (5) VALE (UK) LTD (2016)
CA (Civ Div) (Tomlinson LJ, Rafferty LJ, Kitchin LJ) 06/07/2016