British Charity That Helped Woman Change Will Is Set to Get Her Bequest

A British charity that provides services to older people and that was named as the chief beneficiary in a will it helped an elderly woman revise shortly before her death will receive the bulk of her $570,000 estate, the Telegraph reports.

A close friend of Bernice Southwell’s who had been the main beneficiary of the childless 91-year-old’s original will withdrew a challenge after a probate hearing, saying she could not afford to pursue the case. Ms. Southwell’s new will was drawn up with the assistance of an adviser from the nonprofit group Help the Aged, to which she had been referred by a social worker.

The original beneficiary claimed Ms. Southwell was mentally incapacitated and unduly influenced by a third party, but an official with the charity’s wills and legacies division denied that “pressure was brought to bear. The decision to amend the will lay solely and only with Mrs. Southwell.”