BY JAMES SIMONS
The daughter of an affluent entrepreneur who made a £2m fortune is fighting for a share of her will after being dropped out of it at the last moment. 58 year old Ruth Simmonds was gutted to learn that her father had cut her out of his will, considering she was initially on the will of the loaded 75 year old only a couple of years ago.
Her father, Ken Jordan, who acquired his wealth through his business- Central Linemarkings Ltd left every penny to his new partner- the cousin of his wife, the High Court heard. He cut his “secret daughter” out of his will only months before he died in August 2012. Instead he left every penny to his 65 year old partner, Bernice Elliott, 65, whose relationship with Mr Jordan actually caused to the breakdown of his 50 year old marriage.
Mrs Simmonds was originally left £100,000 from her father’s estate under an earlier will, and insists this was the last valid will he ever signed. For some reason, the old man changed his mind. This was likely to be purposeful because when rich individuals leave wills, there is always a good chance that someone may influence them to alter the will for a number of reasons. Alternatively, they may take some other issues into account. They usually know what they are doing, but may be under some internal or external influence in doing this.
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SECRET
The fact she was a secret daughter may have weighed heavily in his final thoughts, or could easily have been mentioned to him as something that would upset his surviving partner. The precise connection between her mother and the deceased may also provide another reason to why he left him out of the will. He or an unknown adviser of his may have surmised that the mother of his secret benefit would benefit from her windfall, and if he would not like that if he was holding a grudge against her. There are so many reasons people are dropped out of a will at the last moment.
LIFTS AND VISITS
The court heard that his secret daughter often gave him lifts, and visited him at his Sunrise care home in Bagshot, Surrey where he resided in his final years. However, his solicitor who was also his brother in law told the court that he always kept his cards ”close to his chest”
He told the court: “Ken never mentioned Ruth to me at all. I knew of her existence, but he never told me he had given anything to Ruth.
“I have no idea why he changed the will, but he knew his own mind and that is what he wanted to do.” An individual is hardly ever removed from a will by accident, though such exclusion can indeed be manipulated by another party.
The deceased was undergoing a divorce in 2008 when his wife discovered he had been having an affair with her cousin, the court heard. Although, he continued to live with his estranged wife at their family home in Surrey, he eventually changed his will to cut his estranged wife and their children, altering the will to give £100,000 to two of his sisters and his secret daughter, Ruth Simmonds.
CHANGE
His subsequent decision to change the will for the second time and leave his daughter out supports the view that the change reflected his true state of mind.
Lawyers acting for his secret daughter argued there were “real doubts” over Mr Jordan’s mental ability to make a valid will in the months before he died, pointing out that there was no independent medical evidence about his state of mind at the time. But lawyers for Miss Elliott- the sole beneficiary of the old man’s will, argue that his brother in law and solicitor was placed to judge his state of mind. The judge will make his final judgement in this interesting case in the new year.
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Picture credit: Evening Standard
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