Golda Bechal

Settling the bill

Well into her 70s in 1994 and showing signs of dementia, Golda Bechal made a new will. Most of her considerable fortune would now go to Kim Sing and Bee Lian Man, husband and wife owners of a Chinese restaurant. Golda effectively disinherited her nieces and nephews, who were her closest surviving relatives - and her main beneficiaries in her 1988 will.

Did the Mans take advantage of a frail elderly woman? Was Golda Bechal too old and out of touch with reality in 1994 to make a valid will? And why did a woman wealthy enough to hire first-rate solicitors choose a will-writing service whose will exposed her estate to a costly legal challenge - and subjected both the Mans and her relatives to years of uncertainty and stress?

Three years after her death in 2004 at the age of 88, Golda Bechal's last will was declared valid in the High Court.

Golda did have some mental deterioration but, the judge concluded, overall she knew what she was worth and what she was doing with her will. Her mental frailty did not deprive her of testamentary capacity.

As owners of a Chinese restaurant, the victorious beneficiaries were a gift to headline writers and subeditors, who had a field day: sweet and sour victory, fortune cookies, a big tip and the like.

You could be forgiven for concluding that the only reason why Golda left them her fortune was because she loved their dumplings.

Actually, Golda Bechal lived in central London, and the Mans lived in Great Leigh, Essex, not far from their takeaway restaurant in Chelmsford. They did not deliver to Mayfair.

The Man’s did in fact occasionally bring food to Golda, but she was not a customer, and the deliveries were familial, not commercial.

Developing properties and relationships

Golda Bechal's husband, a successful property developer, died in 1971. Their son and only child died three years later. Golda had had only two close relatives, and both of them died within a relatively short period of time.

But Golda's relationship with Kim Sing Man began before her husband's death. Kim's father had operated a restaurant in one of Golda's husband's buildings, and Golda first met him when he was a teenager. Later, Kim's own growing family became her substitute family. She celebrated birthdays and Christmas with them, and Mrs Man accompanied her on trips to Cannes and Israel.

And Mr Man testified in the High Court that Golda had come to distrust her blood relatives, thinking they cared only for her money.

Golda’s nieces and nephews appealed the High Court judgment, but on the second day of evidence, the hearing came to an abrupt end. The warring parties reached a compromise, the terms of which were not made public.

The settlement left a number of questions unanswered, although in truth they may have remained unanswered even if the appeal had run to its bitter end.

What, if anything, happened in the six years between the first will in 1988 and the second will in 1994 (Golda actually made two wills that year) to turn her heart so radically against her relatives? How often did she see them? What did they really feel about her, and how did they actually treat her?

Golda took many tantalising secrets to her grave, including her reasons for having her will drawn up by her bank instead of a solicitor. The bank's will-writing service involved Golda filling out a questionnaire which was then shunted to the innards of the bank, where the actual will was prepared by someone who probably did not meet, let alone personally interview, her.

Given her mental state and the snubbing of her nephews and nieces for unrelated beneficiaries, her will was a lawsuit in the making.

A solicitor could have provided a service at once more personal, comprehensive and convenient, visiting her at home and flagging the potential dangers. The solicitor could not have guaranteed that the will would not be challenged, but if Golda were intent on giving everything to non-relatives, he would have cautioned her that she would be asking for trouble.

The solicitor would have fashioned a will that would have made it less likely that a challenge would arise in the first place, and less likely to succeed if it did.