Vulture's Paradise
It's bad enough when someone you know and love kicks the bucket, movingly portrayed in this post. Without having a money-grabbing lawyer clinging onto your grief like a parasite-like leech. In the update to the post the lawyer was shaken off before she could claim a percentage of the estate in cash and property.
As I read the second post, the thought of reading this story "A farmer who toiled on his cousin's land unpaid for more than two decades has won a two-year legal battle to inherit the £2.3 million estate" earlier on crept into my mind. I thought how unfair it was that "David Thorner is facing an inheritance tax bill of about £300,000 for which he may have to take out a loan". I thought it was a shame that "Judge John Randall allowed the blood relatives to keep the remaining £1.1 million cash in Peter Thorner's estate". Had it not been for the unpaid labour of David Thorner for 20 years, it is doubtful that there would have been any farm or estate left to speak of. Therefore, I feel that he should have received the remaining £1.1 million cash as a reward for unpaid wages. To receive a farm and estate without the funds to maintain it appears to be unreasonable. Especially given an inheritance tax bill of about £300,000 for which he may have to take out a loan to keep the farm and estate going. If there is a case for the Chancellor waiving an inheritance tax bill this is surely it?
A mixture of law, politics, autobiography and humour. Once described as "The Devilish Advocate" (Guardian), I do have the ability to provoke a response. Sometimes it comes from someone who uses a thought process, and sometimes from jerks usually associated with the knee.
Entirely unfair on the poor guy, especial as you point out John, if it were not for his efforts the estate would probably have only been worth a tenth of it's present value.
ReplyDeleteI hope the blood relatives are shamed into making a contribution to his tax bill.