In a very interesting case the High Court has made an adverse cost order against the daughter of a multi-millionaire who insisted that her father’s will be proved in solemn form despite not raising a positive case in challenging the validity of the will.
The multi-millionaire had left his entire estate to his partner and left his daughter out of his will a matter of months before he died.
The daughter sought to argue that there was no reason why her father should have extinguished her legacy and that he was not of right mind when he did so. She submitted that the solicitor who had drafted the will had also failed to make detailed attendance notes.
Extracts of the judges comments include, “Even if the deceased had had “capricious, frivolous, mean or even bad motives”, his fortune was his to leave to whoever he wished”.
The court found that the daughter had no reasonable ground for opposing the will and ordered costs against her from the point at which she had sufficient material to form this view.
