Janice Chapple’s mother Phyllis promised her that she would in time inherit all her worldly goods. Even when her mother died in 2012, leaving her estate to Janice’s stepfather Vic, she was sure the family fortune would one day come to her.
Phyllis had drawn up a mirror will with Vic, and explained to Janice that whoever died first would leave their estate to the other. Then, when the surviving partner passed away, the couple’s joint finances would go to Janice, an only child.
So when Vic died the following year, Janice, 74, was devastated to learn that he had left all of Phyllis’s belongings – including her home – to his cleaner. Unbeknown to Janice, Vic had rewritten his will.
Janice found herself completely cut out of her mother’s inheritance – and was told that if she wanted to see any of her family treasures again, she would have to bid on them at auction against strangers.
The Chapples are one of a growing number of families tangled in bitter disputes about inheritance. Experts say these are common among so-called ‘blended’ families, in which parents have divorced and remarried.
Cruel blow: Janice Chapple was promised her mother’s estate in her will, but her stepfather was able to rewrite it
Phyllis had drawn up a mirror will with Vic, and explained to her daughter that whoever died first would leave their estate to the other – and when they passed away it would go to Janice. Pictured: Janice Chapple with her mother Phyllis in 1953
Wealth transfer becomes particularly complicated in these cases, and therefore open to dispute, both where wills have been rewritten – and where they have failed to be rewritten. Children can be cruelly disinherited and parents’ wishes ignored after their death.
An estimated one in three families in the UK are blended, which means parents have remarried after having children with a former partner.
But nearly half of these have not updated their will after divorcing, remarrying, having more children or becoming a step-parent, according to data seen by The Mail on Sunday.
A rise in the value of estates is leading to the growth of inheritance disputes as the stakes are higher than ever. More than £5.5 trillion is expected to pass between generations in the next 30 years, according to projections by estate administrator the Kings Court Trust and the Centre for Economics and Business Research.
This is reflected in figures the Government is expected to reveal on Wednesday showing that bereaved relatives have registered a record number of taxpaying estates in the past year. In the 2022-23 financial year the total paid in inheritance tax was £7.1 billion, which was already up £1 billion on the previous 12 months.
Law firm JMW Solicitors received 52 per cent more enquiries for contested probate cases in the first half of this year against the same period in 2022. Alison Parry, head of will and trust disputes at the firm, says: ‘We expect that by the end of this year the figure will be even higher.’ However, proper planning can avert quarrels. Here we investigate the most-common pitfalls – and what to do to mitigate them.
Janice found herself completely cut out of her mother’s inheritance. Pictured: Janice with her mother Phyllis in 1965
Beware the danger of mirror wills
Mirror wills are a popular mode of arranging legacies. This is where two partners sign identical wills, leaving everything to the other initially, with assets to be split between their named beneficiaries after the second dies.
However, in the case of blended families, they can become contentious. That is because a legal loophole allows surviving spouses to alter or entirely rewrite a will after a partner dies. This enables the surviving spouse to cut out their deceased partner’s family altogether. There are no restrictions on altering a mirror will after a partner’s death.
In Janice Chapple’s case, it meant her stepfather could inherit all her mother’s wealth – then leave it all to his cleaner.
Janice found out about Vic’s death in 2013 from the local newspaper and requested a copy of his will to track down her inheritance.
To her horror, everything — including Phyllis’s treasured home, car and savings – had been left to his young cleaner.
‘It was heartless,’ she says, ‘and I couldn’t do anything to stop it.’
Janice has been powerless to challenge the will or secure anything for herself or her two children.
She estimates the value of the estate was at least £150,000, including a seafront flat in the Devon village of Seaton, which Janice had eventually planned to move into.
‘It hurts every time I drive past it,’ she says. ‘The cruellest part is that the solicitor told me to go to the local auction room and bid for any family mementos I wanted.
‘Imagine seeing your family’s items up for sale. It’s your legacy. I couldn’t face it.’
Janice, a former postwoman, adds: ‘I wanted to keep an old clock that was my father’s, and one of my mother’s little ornaments of a bull terrier with an injured leg that I had bought her with my first pay cheque. And I think of all the old family photos from before Vic was in the picture – we got nothing.’
Most of her mother’s belongings went on the scrapheap, she says.
Richard Thomas, a partner at law firm IDR Law who regularly deals with cases of inheritance disputes, says cases like Janice’s are not uncommon.
‘If you are only doing a mirror will and it gives everything to your partner with the understanding they will honour your wishes after you die, you are relying solely on trust. It is not binding,’ he warns.
‘That might seem fine in the moment. However, what we see all too often is if the first person passes away, their surviving partner decides they never really liked their stepchildren and changes the will to leave everything – or a larger share – to their own blood relatives.’
Thomas says that if you want your money or an asset to go to one person specifically, you should make sure you give it to them while you can, or put rigid plans in place.
‘If there are particular belongings such as photos, jewellery, furniture or other family heirlooms that you want to go to a specific person, you should include a simple letter of your wishes with your will,’ Thomas says. ‘Write it all down.’
Don’t rely on old wills
You may well have made a will that clearly sets out your wishes. But if you remarry, all old wills are invalidated and revoked automatically.
Soul searching: Aretha Franklin’s wills sparked a five-year battle
Unless a new will is made after your new marriage, much of the assets will go to your new spouse, regardless of the length of the relationship.
This means assets can go to unintended recipients.
Ian Dyall, who is head of estate planning at wealth manager Evelyn Partners, says that any time anything significant happens in your life, for example marriage, divorce or the birth of a child, you should review your will and make sure it still reflects your wishes.
He adds: ‘It isn’t that uncommon for people not to realise that their will no longer stands.’
Divorce also automatically overrides any wills you have written in the past.
Dyall says: ‘When a couple divorce, the ex-spouse is treated as if they have died for the purpose of the will.’
Plan carefully where there is complexity
Shona Lowe of investment firm Abrdn says that in cases of blended families especially, it can pay to plan ahead to avoid any unintended inheritance nightmares.
She says: ‘Whatever your blended family may look like, taking time to make a plan of how your money will be passed on is essential.
‘Not having the right arrangements in place can mean money isn’t passed on in line with your wishes, or that you pay more tax that you needed to – or beneficiaries end up getting less than you wanted, or they expected.’
A dispute over American soul singer Aretha Franklin’s estate was finally resolved among her four children in court this month.
The five-year legal battle between the half-siblings over two handwritten versions of the singer’s final wishes came to an end with the jury’s verdict.
When Franklin died from pancreatic cancer in 2018, it was widely thought she had not prepared a will to divide up the £4.6 million she had in property, cash, gold records and furs, or to her music copyrights.
But nine months after her death, her niece and executor Sabrina Owens found two sets of handwritten notes by Franklin, which differed on what would be left to the star’s four sons.
The newer version, dated March 2014, was discovered inside a spiral notebook wedged beneath the living room sofa cushions.
This will was ruled valid, leaving her three oldest sons an even split of her music royalties and bank funds.
Her youngest son, Kecalf, and his grandchildren will inherit her primary residence, valued at £928,000.
Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.
