Children

"Just write one."

'Horrific. Horrific. Don't even go there. All I can say is that one really useful thing you could put in your article...can you please just say, to anyone who has a child, write a will. Even if you're 26. Just write one.'

Natascha McElhone, Actress

J M Barrie, author of Peter Pan

Scottish writer J M Barrie - Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet (1860-1937) - left most of his wealth to his secretary - except the rights to his best-known work, Peter Pan. This lucrative property went to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.

When Natascha McElhone's husband Martin Kelly died suddenly in 2008 at the age of 43, the actress had two young children and a third on the way.

Kelly, a medical doctor, died intestate. If he had made a will, his executors could and would have organised the family finances quickly and efficiently. Instead, McElhone faced many months of complications and delay. This legalistic and bureaucratic torture is what she referred to as 'horrific' in an interview published in the Observer in April 2009 as the first anniversary of Kelly's untimely death approached.

Another relatively young widow, Taryn Butler, experienced similar hassle and heartache when her husband died after a long illness. He had made a will but it was invalid.

A valid will means that your estate's money - whether for school fees or basic daily needs - gets to the children faster than under intestacy.

A will can also be used to appoint guardians for young children.

"SHOULD any child of mine be under age at the date of the death of the survivor of myself and my husband I APPOINT my mother and my brother EARL SPENCER to be the guardians of that child and I express the wish that should I predecease my husband he will consult with my mother with regard to the upbringing education and welfare of our children."

The will of Princess Diana

Disinheriting children

Generally in England and Wales, people are free to leave their assets to whomever they like. However, young children can not be disinherited.

They are protected by the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, which can override wills. In most Continental countries children benefit from "forced heirship" laws - even children who are adults.

Wealthy individuals such as Dame Anita Roddick, Nigella Lawson and Sir Clement Freud, and such superwealthy luminaries as Warren Buffett, have said that they will leave little or no money at all to their children.

Sir Sean Connery supposedly made a similar threat regarding his son, but the actor has vigorously denied that allegation.

'So, like Nigella Lawson, though for different reasons, I shall leave no money to my rich children but have them think well of me by setting up a trust for their children.'

Sir Clement Freud, Writer/Chef/Radio Presenter/Former MP

Adult children

For various reasons, many parents leave nothing or, in the opinion of their adult children, too little in their will. And many adults have successfully challenged these will.

Some do not succeed. A 70-year-old woman left nearly half a million pounds to two charities - and nothing to her daughter and five grandchildren. A judge awarded the woman £50,000. But the charities appealed - the woman was willed zero, and the charities saw no reason why the will should not be obeyed. The appeal judge agreed: mother and daughter were estranged, all parties knew that the mother would not leave anything to her, and the will was reasonable. [H v Mitson [2009] EWHC 311]

Time is catching up with a venerable and fabulously wealthy Italian family with strong British links.

Princess Orietta Doria married Frank Pogson, a British naval commander, during the Second World War. They had a son, Jonathan, and a daughter, Gesine Doria Pamphilj.

Doria family ancestors include Giovanni Battiste Pamphilj who, as Innocent X, served as Pope from 1644 to 1655. The family line began with the 16th century Genoese admiral Andrea Doria - a name remembered today for the ocean liner that sank after a collision off Nantucket in 1956.

With Orietta's death in 2000, the family's long blood line ended.

Frank and Orietta were unable to have children of their own. Jonathan and Gesine were adopted. They were raised as brother and sister although they are not related biologically.

Jonathan has two children - born to a surrogate mother. Jonathan is gay and is in a registered British civil partnership with another man.

Gesine has four children with her husband Massimiliano.

According to the BBC, Gesine believes that a new Italian law on assisted procreation may prevent her brother's children from inheriting part of the estate. Worried, too, about possible challenges from the surrogate mothers, she has instituted legal action in an attempt to clarify paternity issues before inheritance disputes erupt.

The family holdings include several homes - one of which is a palace - and an art collection with works by Caravaggio, Giorgione, Raphael, Titian and Velasquez.

" . . . "

Eighteen years ago an oculist colleague of mine died, leaving his seven-year-old daughter Katya and about 60,000 roubles. He appointed me guardian in his will, and Katya lived with us as one of the family till she was ten, after which she went to boarding-school and spent only the summer holidays in my home.

Anton Chekhov, "A Dreary Story" (1889)

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