London - A couple who run a Chinese restaurant in Essex were given the go-ahead by the High Court on Friday to keep the £10-million one of their elderly and long-standing friends left them on her death.When Golda "Goldie" Bechal died in January 2004 she bequeathed virtually her entire estate, made up of various business and property interests across the south east, to Kim Sing Man and his wife Bee Lian Man.
The only other major beneficiaries under two wills signed in May and August of 1994 were a number of charities, including Jewish causes.
A group of Bechal's nieces and nephews challenged the wills claiming their aunt, who was nearly 89 when she died, was so mentally frail at the time of signing the wills that they were invalid.
But Judge Sir Donald Rattee ruled in London that Bechal knew exactly what she was doing when she made the bequest, and ruled that the Mans of Great Leighs, Chelmsford, Essex, were entitled to keep the money. He held that although Bechal had been suffering from dementia at the time she signed, she had testamentary capacity and was well enough to know and approve the content of the wills.
Rattee said that despite her mental frailty, Bechal had made the will in a way which suggested she had taken into account the competing interests of her family, and was aware of how much money she had.
He said that Bechal, was a "sad and lonely" widow, and regarded Bee Lian Man as the "daughter she would have dearly liked to have had". On a form on which the will was written she described the Mans, who have three children, as her "best friends"."
In my judgment, on the balance of probabilities Mrs Bechal had testamentary capacity when she made the August will as well as the May will," Rattee said.
During the case Kim Sing Man, told the court that Bechal had once described her family to him as a "bunch of hooligans", adding that she believed they were after her money.
