A recent court action has come to question the meaning of the word “wife” in a Will.

Maya Gocheva-Ash married Don Ash in 2015, two years after he divorced his first wife, Cindy Ash. Don unexpectedly passed in 2017, leaving his two wives in a court battle over his half of the £840,000 estate of his mother Joyce, who died 18 months after Don. The other half of the estate going to Don’s brother Gordon.

Joyce’s will was written in 2009 and stated that should her son predecease her, his half of his inheritance should go to “his wife Cindy Ash”. At the time of Joyce’s death, Cindy was no longer Don’s wife. This lead to the court battle in question.

Maya argued that the money should go to her as she was Don’s wife at the time of his death. Her solicitor claimed that Joyce’s will was “ambiguous and/or equivocal as to the meaning of the phrase “his wife””, and that his wife means that Maya was the intended beneficiary, irrespective of the fact Cindy’s name was noted in the will. He further claimed that her name being in the will was no more than a “statement of fact” that showed Cindy was Don’s wife at the time the will was drafted.

Cindy’s argument outlined that her name was in the will, therefore it was intended that the gift went to her. Even after Don & Cindy’s divorce, Cindy still maintained a mother-daughter relationship with Joyce and was considered as part of the family and that Joyce wanted the money to stay in the family.

According to Don’s brother Gordon, Joyce never approved of Maya and Don’s relationship and that his mother would rather the money be spent caring for her animals than going to Maya. Maya was also not invited to Joyce’s funeral.

The judge ruled that at the time of writing the will, Joyce did not know Maya, therefore the words meant that should Don die before her, his share was to go to Cindy.

Ultimately, Maya was ordered to pay a court bill of £50,000 to cover Cindy and Gordon’s costs of defending the action.

This case highlights the importance of having a will in place. This allows your family to be aware of your wishes. Regular reviews of your will are extremely important and could save costly court fees and family disputes as we’ve seen above.