In a twist of fate, a woman, whose late husband of 66 years had kept her and their four daughters out from his will and left everything for two sons, has clinched a case in the high court in London for a share of an estate worth over a million pounds.
According to a report by The Guardian, Justice Peel heard that Karnail Singh, who passed away two years ago, “wished to leave his estate solely down the male line” after penning his will in 2005. He also heard that Singh’s widow Harbans Kaur, who married him in 1955, estimated the estate’s value at £1.9 million gross but one of her sons presented a lesser value at £1.2 million.
The judge then ruled that Kaur, 83, should get half of the estate’s net value. He added that it was clear that “reasonable provision” had not been made for the octogenarian, whose income included state benefits of about £12,000.
Justice Peel, who heard the case in the family division of the high court in London and learned that the family had a clothing business, said it was evident that Kaur had played a “full role” in the long marriage with Singh and worked in the family’s clothing business.
“By [a] will, dated 25 June 2005, the estate was left in equal shares to two of the children … the sons of the claimant and the deceased,” he said in the ruling, The Guardian report added.
“The reason why the will was crafted in these terms, excluding the claimant and the other four siblings, was because the deceased wished to leave his estate solely down the male line,” the judge observed, adding, “It seems to me that this is the clearest possible case entitling me to conclude that reasonable provision has not been made for the claimant.”
He said Kaur was left with “next to nothing” after a marriage of 66 years to which “she made a full and equal contribution” and “during which all the assets accrued”.
The judge added that it was hard to see any other conclusion and that Kaur should “receive 50 per cent of the net value of the estate”.
Citing the ruling as a warning, Heledd Wyn, a partner at law firm Shakespeare Martineau, was quoted as saying by the news outlet, “This decision is evidence that people cannot simply be cut out of wills, especially spouses which have contributed for a significant number of years.”
She said the court has been very clear on the matter and gave a ruling “in the interest of fairness”.
