In an interesting case from Wales, a judge in Cardiff’s High Court has taken the unusual step of overturning a deceased man’s will to award property and some money to his long-term partner, reports the Daily Mail.
Wynford Hodge died in 2017 at the age of 94. He owned a farm and caravan park in Pembrokeshire and left an estate worth around £1.5 million.
His partner, Joan Thompson, who is now 79-years-old, had lived with him for 42 years and had acted as his carer in the latter stages of his life. She had also carried out unpaid work on the park and helped provide care for Mr Hodge’s mother.
Despite previously telling Ms Thompson that she would be well looked after, Mr Hodge specified in a letter kept with his will that he did not want her or his children to inherit any of estate, describing his partner as “financially comfortable”. Instead, he left his entire estate to two tenants on his caravan park who had helped him out in the past.
However, far from being financially comfortable, Ms Thompson is now in a nursing home and dependent on benefits as her only source of income.
The High Court judge found that by writing her out of his will, Mr Hodge failed to meet the “obligations and responsibilities” he owed Ms Thompson. He has ruled that she should inherit a property on the estate her partner owned, as well as £190,000 in cash to cover the costs of any necessary refurbishment and future expenses.
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