Irish granny cuts granddaughter out of her will for 'living in sin'
CAROLINE Barrett, who "lived in sin" with her boyfriend, has lost out on a share of her Catholic grandmother's £220,000 fortune - after a judge ruled that her elderly relative disapproved of cohabitation before marriage.
Mrs Barrett, 28, was taken to the High Court in London by her aunts and uncles, who claimed that her religious grandmother objected to the young woman's lifestyle.
Irish-born Bridget Gabrielle Murray had included Mrs Barrett in her will drawn up months before she died aged 87 in July 2010.
But the matriarch's sons, David and John Murray, and daughter Catherine Turk, said it was a "mistake" and took the dispute to the High Court for a judge to "rectify".
Judge Robert Miles QC accepted that the elderly woman's attitudes may have been "capricious" but ruled that she would not have knowingly left money to an unmarried relative.
The court heard Mrs Murray, originally from Roscommon in Ireland, was a devout Catholic, who would have disapproved of her granddaughter cohabiting for 18 months before she got married. She was an active member of the Catholic Council until her death.
According to her will drawn up in March 2010, a quarter of her estate would have been left to Mrs Barrett and her brother David Robertson – the children of her fourth child, Monica, who died three years before her.
Her three remaining children disputed the will on the basis that her "intentions differed from those express in the will".
Giving evidence, David Murray, 61, from Orpington, Kent, told the judge his mother would never have been happy with her granddaughter benefiting from her will after living with a man out of wedlock.
"If you talk about the Irish way of living, quite a lot of people are religious and people are struck out of wills all over because of religion," he said.
"My mother was a very religious person. She was a member of the Catholic Council. She didn't believe in people living together before marriage."
Edward Hicks, representing Mrs Barrett and Mr Robertson, suggested it would be "very unusual" for Mrs Murray to exclude her grandchildren from the will.
"Mrs Barrett did get married and her grandmother was clearly aware she had got married. One could go through the Bible and find many references to forgiveness," Mr Hicks put to Mr Murray.
Mr Murray replied: "Some people have very strong religious beliefs. You might be living together for 20 years. Just because you get married for a few months, it doesn't change people's beliefs overnight.
"People's beliefs are beliefs and you stick by them. You don't change tack overnight. My mother was a very strong character, and she discussed this (with me) on several occasions. We had a very close relationship."
Mrs Barrett, who married in September 2008 after completing a master's degree in 2004, told the court: "I spoke to her about it. She would say things like 'When are you going to get married? When are you going to get married?' like all grandparents do.
"But I wouldn't ever say that she was stern about it. We spoke around birthdays and Christmas. We spoke more frequently after I got engaged and was planning to get married. After I got engaged she was very pleased," she added.
Judge Robert Miles QC ruled Mrs Barrett, of Basingstoke, and her brother out of the will. The £220,000 estate will now be divided between Mrs Murray's three surviving children.
Judge Miles said: "It was a matter for Mrs Murray how she divided her estate even if, on one view, it might not have been particularly fair, or even capricious."
- Donna Bowater
© Telegraph.co.uk
