With the law still evolving, it is extremely difficult to say with certainty whether you will win, but as Smallcombe points out, you don’t need certainty to make progress. If Harper is right, it is going to be normal in the 21st century to feel that the generations owe each other very little once they are adults – the opposite of what the courts have ruled. People are already having to take great care over excluding people from their wills, and soon others might begin to act as if they know they can’t be disinherited. For adult children, before the Ilott case, you were pushing water uphill … [Now] we can argue cases for adult children that we probably couldn’t before.

Disinheritance and the law: why you can’t leave your money to whoever Disinheritance and the law: why you can’t leave your money to

When Melita Jackson decided to disinherit her daughter Heather, she knew what she was doing, and her decision was clear.They can never save enough to pay for their own care in old age, and will have to fall back on whatever their local authority can provide. And it may not look like it, but it is part of how Britain as a whole is gradually waking up to some tough new truths about the surprising decline of inheritance, and where families in this century are going, both rich and poor. So far, most people are not aware that they are legally entitled to this kind of “reasonable provision” from those they once depended on.

engine for sale in bid to settle will dispute Fred’s engine for sale in bid to settle will dispute

It was a little bit scary at times because he was so good at portraying Fred’s mannerisms and his character. Usually you might expect the passions of a 17-year-old to waver just as quickly, and perhaps Melita expected that. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused. Most people think this drives a coach and horses through someone’s autonomy to leave their estate to who they want.Usually you might expect a woman in Melita’s shoes to forgive her only daughter before too long, rather than lose touch altogether, and perhaps that is what Heather expected her mother to do.

Widow Sheila’s delight as life with Fred turns into a drama Widow Sheila’s delight as life with Fred turns into a drama

Not many people – nor even many lawyers – know about the 1975 Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act, under which Heather won her claim. It was intended to help protect the close dependents of someone who has died – preventing a step-parent from impoverishing the children by walking off with everything, for example (exactly as happened to the retail expert Mary Portas and her brother when they were teenagers). TV steeplejack Fred Dibnah, whose wife, Sheila, claimed that his will was altered to exclude her while he was was mentally fragile and under the influence of others.Smallcombe says many of her clients come to her saying only that their treatment in a will has been unfair, and she then informs them that this option exists. For instance, in most of Europe and much of the rest of the world, a principle of “forced heirship” compels a portion of every estate, often half, to be distributed equally among the deceased’s close relatives. She gave her detailed memoirs she had kept during her marriage to Fred, with a view to putting together a book. Sheila Dibnah, widow of the TV steeplejack Fred Dibnah, made a claim under the 1975 Act after she was written out of his estate just days before his death in 2004.