A Cast-Iron Will

Product Information

Pity the generation with teenage and student-age children now – Harper’s generation in fact – who must already pay this out, but have little prospect of a legacy from their own parents in compensation.

Widow Sheila’s delight as life with Fred turns into a drama Widow Sheila’s delight as life with Fred turns into a drama

Perhaps Melita’s reasons went all the way back to the summer of 1960, three months before Heather was born, when Heather’s father had died suddenly in an industrial accident, leaving Melita pregnant and alone. Unfortunately for the offspring, this also means watching what they’d started to think of as their inheritance being slowly spent. But due to an ongoing dispute with Mr Dibnah’s widow, Sheila, whom he married in 1998, the will — which was read in 2007 — has still not been settled. There’s a very traditional generational contract, which is based on support and care in older age,” Harper says.

Thirdly, people are living longer, often with extended periods of mental decline at the end of their lives, which makes them vulnerable to influence and confusion when it comes to wills.

engine for sale in bid to settle will dispute Fred’s engine for sale in bid to settle will dispute

And that means that they won’t be leaving [inheritances] for their children in the way that they’re used to. As a child – and much to her mother’s despair – she was more interested in toy cars, spanners and dirty grid-lids than the more traditional girl’s pursuits. That means an adult generation cares for young people, then the young people grow up and they care for their older parents.My private-client colleagues were absolutely outraged at the first Ilott decision,” says Amanda Smallcombe, a partner who specialises in Inheritance Act cases at the law firm Birkett Long. Usually you might expect the passions of a 17-year-old to waver just as quickly, and perhaps Melita expected that.