A battle over inheritance raged in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, when a now deceased man made four wills - the initial will in which he bequeathed all to his only two daughters and three others in which his ex-wife whom he divorced 17 years ago, was suddenly also nominated as a beneficiary.
The last will in which the ex-wife stood to gain the most was made a few days before the deceased died of cancer. It was said that at that time he was in much pain and not lucid, so much so that he could not comprehend what he was doing.
His one daughter, who was left out of the three latter wills, turned to court to have the first will in which she and her sister inherited in equal parts, declared as the true will.
The plaintiff in this action, only identified by Judge Nomsa Khumalo as Miss M, a chartered accountant and a retired pilot, contested the validity of several wills executed by her deceased father a few months prior to his death after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
This was after she was excluded in the latest three wills and in her stead an ex-wife divorced from the deceased for 17 years was appointed as a beneficiary.
The wills revoked a will which included the plaintiff as a beneficiary that was executed by the deceased prior to his diagnosis. The deceased’s testamentary capacity at the time of execution of the impugned wills was put in issue.
The deceased’s attorney at the time of execution of the wills was accused of failure to act in the deceased’s best interest to the detriment of the plaintiff, as he should have known that the deceased was not of sound mind at the time.
The plaintiff’s legal action was aimed against the deceased’s old friend and attorney for more than 40 years. He was the drafter and the nominated executor of all the deceased’s wills and appointed as an executor of the deceased’s estate.
The plaintiff’s stepmother, who replaced her as a beneficiary, was the deceased’s fifth marriage and they divorced in 1998, after 5 years of marriage. They remarried in 2015 after being divorced for 17 years. This was after she appeared on the scene again when she heard that her ex-husband was diagnosed with cancer.
The deceased, who was a divorcee and unmarried at the time, executed his first will in 2014, leaving all to his two daughters.
A year later and three days after his pancreas cancer diagnosis, his ex-wife reappeared and moved into the deceased’s home. Five weeks later, the deceased revoked the 2014 will and left everything to the ex-wife, his other daughter and to a grandchild.
Seven weeks after the ex-wife re-appeared on the scene, she and the deceased got married again. Shortly after, the deceased executed another will (the third will) renaming the plaintiff, her sister and the wife (the former ex-wife) as beneficiaries in equal shares and excluding the grandchild.
The will changed again (the fourth will) three days before his death and this time he again disinherited the plaintiff (his daughter).
She told the court her stepmother “in an unscrupulous manner” cajoled her dad into changing the will, while he was suffering from aggressive cancer and was using morphine together with alcohol.
The plaintiff said the deceased’s attorney who has known the deceased for years, should have advised him not to take such drastic steps as to disinherit one daughter in preference of a previously divorced wife in the physical and the mental condition the deceased was in at the time.
The evidence was that by the time he changed his wills, especially when he made his last will, he was emaciated and very weak and would just sit on a chair. He was confused and suffered acute brain failure, his doctor said.
His ex-wife, who remarried him and who did not have a good relationship with the plaintiff, on the other hand claimed it was his wish to disinherit this daughter.
But Judge Knhumalo accepted the evidence that by the time he made his last will, he lacked the comprehension and appreciation of who his natural heirs were, and lacked the testamentary capacity to execute a valid will.
She added that due to his vulnerability, he did not reflect his wishes in the last three wills, but that of his ex-wife, who through “deception” and pressure, made sure she was one of the beneficiaries.
In the court accepting the first will, the ex-wife will now inherit nothing.
Pretoria News
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