An 83-year-old widow whose husband   of 66 years left her out of his will, has won a High Court battle for a share of an estate worth more than £1 million. Karnail Singh who died in 2021, left his estate to his two sons and nothing to his widow Harbans Kaur, or his four daughters as he ‘wished to leave his estate solely down the male line’, a judge was told. 

Mr Justice Peel (The Judge) heard that Mrs Kaur estimated the estate to be worth £1.9 million, gross, but one of her sons put the value at £1.2 million.

The Judge outlined detail of his decision in a written ruling after considering evidence at a recent hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London:

‘The claimant and the deceased married in 1955, so by the time of his death they had been married for about 66 years,’

‘They had seven children, of whom one sadly is deceased.’ 

He said evidence showed Mrs Kaur had played a ‘full role’ in the marriage and worked in the family clothing business. 

‘By a will, dated 25 June 2005, the estate was left in equal shares to two of the children… the sons of the claimant and the deceased,’ he wrote. 

‘The reason why the will was crafted in these terms, excluding the claimant and the other four siblings, was because the deceased wished to leave his estate solely down the male line.

‘It seems to me that this is the clearest possible case entitling me to conclude that reasonable provision has not been made for the claimant. 

It is hard to see how any other conclusion can be reached. After a marriage of 66 years, to which she made a full and equal contribution, and during which all the assets accrued, she is left with next to nothing.’ 

Mr Justice Peel ruled that Mrs Kaur should receive 50 per cent of the net value of the estate. He said it was clear that “reasonable provision” had not been made for Mrs Kaur, whose income consisted of state benefits of around £12,000.