In the Courts - Wills and trusts
Family fails to overturn widow's £10m will
Golda Bechal’s nephews and nieces challenged the validity of two wills she made in 1994 because they purported to revoke an earlier will made in 1988, ‘probably’ dividing the estate (worth around £10 m) between members of her family and Jewish charities – the latter being the main beneficiary. There was no copy or documentary evidence of this earlier will, so the estate would have normally gone to her next of kin on intestacy with the charities missing out. The new wills (one made minor revisions to the other) left the bulk of her estate to her long-standing friends, Mr and Mrs Man, but the claimants argued that Mrs Bechal lacked testamentary capacity and ‘want of knowledge and approval’.
Sir Donald Rattee, the High Court judge, did not agree and upheld the will.
Sandra Blackman & Ors v Kim
Sing Man & Ors [2007]
CH D 7 December 2007
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