Sunday Times columnist Daisy Goodwin was excluded from her parents’ will.
She was already grown up and because she was doing better than her sisters, her parents thought she didn’t need the money. But it took her years to get over the feelings of exclusion and rejection – as she put it, the Will is the last thing your parents say to you, so being left out hurts. She referred to a recent Court of Appeal judgement in which an illegitimate son won a claim of a share in his father’s estate after being excluded from the Will, and wondered how long it would take this teenager to get over his rejection.
Wills are not just about the money, and in the case of young children the crucial feature of a Will is that it enables parents to securely establish guardianships for their children and protect their journey to adulthood.