Wills and probate news: Granddaughter omitted from grandmother's will

Those interested in wills and probate matters have been told of a recent case in which a grandmother cut her granddaughter out of her will in favour of a workman who looked after her towards the end of her life.

In a court battle about the case, a judge decided that Helen Blofield had been fully aware of what she was doing when she decided to make a will naming Lionel Cranfield as the beneficiary of her assets.

Her granddaughter Leigh Cowderoy said that Mr Cranfield had coerced her relative to take this action, but a judge at London's High Court said that Ms Cowderoy did not have much contact with her grandmother.

Ms Blofield altered the will so that it was in Mr Cranfield's favour and died two years later in 2008.

This case shows that it is important that a person who makes a will reviews it regularly so that it can be changed as their circumstances alter.

Published by Tessa Jones