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A woman was awarded £164,000 after she was excluded from her mother's will. What drives a parent to disinherit a child?
Of all the ways to express disapproval of your offspring, leaving them out of your will is one of the bluntest.
You might bequeath your legacy instead to a dogs' home, or maybe a donkey sanctuary. In a wealth-driven society, it's about as powerful as gestures get.
And though it's rare, some parents really do feel strongly enough to insist their progeny get nothing whatsoever.
The Court of Appeal ruled Heather Ilot, 54, of Hertfordshire, should receive a third of her mother Melita Jackson's £486,000 estate, from which she had been deliberately omitted. Jackson never forgave Ilot for eloping at the age of 17. Instead, she left her wealth to the RSPCA, RSPB and Blue Cross animal charities.
It's a landmark ruling for England and Wales, which, like the United States, have a tradition of "testamentary freedom" - the idea being that you can, in theory and subject to the Inheritance Act 1975, leave your wealth to whoever you like.
Countries like France, Spain and the Republic of Ireland, by contrast, have fixed heirship shares. In Scotland, children and spouses have "legal rights" to a portion of the deceased's estate.
But where parents do have the opportunity to disinherit their children altogether, they occasionally do. And the resulting court battles invariably generate headlines.
There was Golda Bechal, a widow who died aged 89 leaving £10m to the owners of an Essex Chinese takeaway rather than her family. Australian socialite Valmai Roche left her daughters $1.50 (70p) each from her £3.5m (£1.64m) fortune. Florida heiress Gail Posner left her estate, including a $8.3m (£5.3m) Miami Beach mansion and a $3m (£1.9) trust fund, to her three pet Chihuahuas while her son received just $600,000 (£385,000).
Sometimes children have been estranged from their families. There may have been a row or a schism. On the other hand, relatives often claim the deceased has been taken advantage of while elderly and confused by unscrupulous interlopers.
On other occasions, it's a mystery. Christine Gill says she has no idea why she was written out of her parents' will.
Her father John died in 1999 and, after the death of her mother Joyce in 2006, Gill learned they had left their North Yorkshire farm to each other and then to the RSPCA.
rest here.
Why do people disinherit their children? - BBC News
