Five sisters who lost a High Court battle over a larger share of their grandfather’s inheritance are “bewildered and frustrated” by a judge’s decision to hand them a £220,000 bill for legal costs, a source close to the court says. family.
The sisters received just £50 each of the £500,000 fortune of their 91-year-old grandfather Frederick Ward Senior.
They were excluded from his will because he was “disappointed” by her “very limited” contact with him in the years before his death in 2020.
The woman’s father, Fred Ward Junior, had predeceased her grandfather in 2015 and Fred Senior decided to divide the majority of his estate between his two remaining children: Terry Ward and Susan Wiltshire.
The sisters claimed that Uncle Terry and Aunt Susan had “unduly influenced” him to change his will in their favor. But the judge, Master Brightwell, ruled against them and has now ordered them to pay most of the legal costs.
Former soldier Frederick Ward senior, from South Ealing, London, died aged 91 in 2020.
Christine Ward and her four sisters now face a court bill of almost £220,000
Angela St Marseille (pictured) and her four sisters received just £50 each of their grandfather Frederick Ward Senior’s £500,000 fortune.
Carol Gowing, pictured outside the High Court in London, sued her uncles along with her four sisters.
Fred Junior’s widow Ann Ward declined to comment when approached by MailOnline last night. She is said to have “no doubt” that her husband would have been outraged by the way her father’s estate was administered.
A family source said: ‘The sisters and their mother feel this trial is riddled with errors.
‘They disagree with the judge and are baffled and frustrated by how he reached his decision. They don’t understand why they should cover all the legal costs.
‘Unfortunately, they simply cannot afford to challenge their decision on appeal.
‘His lawyer and his lawyers also do not know how to explain the logic of his sentence.
‘There are so many discrepancies. For example, the judge stated that his grandfather did not suffer from dementia. However, he was diagnosed with dementia in 2014 and two years later he had a second diagnosis.
‘The sisters’ position has always been that Fred Ward Sr. had the right to leave his money to whomever he wanted, despite promises he made verbally.
‘The question is: does your will really reflect what you wanted?’
In handing down the sentence earlier this year, the judge rejected the sisters’ claims (Pictured: Amanda Higginbotham)
Janet Pett was one of five sisters who were given £50 at the ‘provocative’ reading of the will.
Before Frederick Ward Sr. died in 2020, he removed his late son Fred Jr.’s five adult children because he was “disappointed” by their “very limited” contact with him in his final years.
Their case was dismissed by a judge who ruled it was “completely rational” for the “disappointed” grandfather to exclude them due to their “very limited contact.”
Lawyers for the five granddaughters had argued that they should not pay all the costs of the case and accused their uncle of “provocative” behavior and asking that some of the bills for the fight come out of their grandfather’s estate.
But the judge ordered Mrs Gowing and her sisters to pay £100,000 up front for a total legal defense bill estimated at £136,470, plus VAT. The sisters’ legal costs amounted to £85,688.50.
