One of my favourite things about my job is the way in which every single case is different, and the intricacies of family dynamics. This case is such an example.
Norman Gill hired a hitman to kill his wife in 1979 and went on to leave his children only £5,000 each of his £6m estate after a tumultuous relationship with them. He had previously executed a will leaving £5 to his ex wife.
The majority of his estate passed to a charitable trust to benefit the people of Leicester. When the trustees sought a declaration that the 2015 Will was his last true will, his daughter challenged it on the basis that her dad had lacked testamentary capacity in respect of the will, or did not know and approve of the will when he made it.
The Judge said that Norman’s decision to disinherit his children might be labelled ‘unfair,’ but it was not irrational. In any case she had forfeited the right to challenge it with her own medical evidence by previously accepting its validity in a pre-trial settlement agreement (for £700,000) back in February 2022.
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Read more about this dispute in The Daily Mail: