In the past two days, an inheritance dispute case in the UK has attracted attention on social media:
Jill Langley sued a woman named Qin Guixiang, accusing Qin of exerting "excessive influence" on her father, causing the old man to change his will on his deathbed, leaving all the property that was originally intended to be left to her.
(Jill Langley起诉父亲的妻子)
There are reports that Ms. Qin, a professional lawyer from China, went to the United Kingdom to study law, but fell in love with an old man 36 years older than her, the father of the plaintiff, Langley, and inherited his property after the old man's death.
In the eyes of the plaintiff, some of the details of the case are full of doubts......
Let's talk about Qin Guixiang's version of the case first.
Back in 2018, Qin was studying law in the UK. At the end of the year, she saw an interesting advertisement in the newspaper:
"Looking for a partner to spend Christmas with, invite her to dinner and drink. ”
After Qin read the advertisement, he contacted the person who posted the advertisement.
As a result, at Christmas dinner in 2018, Qin met an elderly man in his nineties and shared dinner with him.
（Robert Harrington）
And this old man is Ms. Qin's later husband and plaintiff Langley's father, Robert Harrington (the surname is different, it should be Langley's surname after marriage).
At Christmas dinner, Qin and Mr. Harrington fell in love at first sight. According to Qin's description, the old man Harrington was naturally humorous, very cute, and very gentlemanly.
After dinner, Harrington took Qin to the beach again, and the two spent a romantic Christmas Eve.
(Qin Guixiang)
Over the next month, Qin and Harrington began to see each other frequently and confirmed their relationship, like young people who had just fallen in love.
The relationship between the two has progressed rapidly, and in January 2019, Qin moved to Harrington's home to live with him.
In February, Harrington proposed to Qin.
After another three months, the couple, who are more than 30 years apart, officially registered their marriage, and it took less than half a year from Christmas to marriage.....
After getting married, Qin gradually learned that Harrington and his ex-wife had a daughter, who was older than Qin, and then the father and daughter had a cold relationship and had not been in contact for more than 30 years.
（Harrington和前妻，女儿）
Harrington is already in his nineties, old, inconvenient, and needs to be taken care of no matter how he looks.
So from then on, Qin took on the role of being both a wife and a nanny.
However, the marriage did not last long, and after only nine months of marriage, Harrington's physical condition began to deteriorate.
Perhaps knowing that his time was short, Harrington hired a lawyer to revise his will, leaving his entire fortune, including a million-pound house, to his new wife, Qin.
(Harrington's House)
Just two months after revising his will, Harrington passed away...
After Harrington's death, Qin inherited all of her husband's property during his lifetime in accordance with his will.
In Qin's version, this is the story of an elderly lover who falls in love and marries, and receives an inheritance after the death of his other half...
However, in the eyes of Harrington's daughter Langley, this is nothing more than a "British love story" carefully fabricated by Qin in order to occupy the old man's property.
Let's take a look at her version:
Langley said she had always had a good relationship with her father. The father and daughter kept in touch all year round.
The slaughtering industry, which my father made a fortune from, was also established with her support.
Around 2018, when Langley's mother was seriously ill, she had been taking care of the elderly couple.
However, Langley also confirmed that in January 2018, when his mother died, the father and daughter fell out over "some small things", and then there was a "brief disagreement" between them.
(Local Court)
But Langley never expected that his father would quickly find a new wife, Qin Guixiang, less than a year after his mother's death, and leave the inheritance to Qin more than half a year later.
Langley determined that Qin must have exerted "excessive" influence on his father:
"When he married Qin, his father couldn't stand up to take a wedding photo, or even spell the bride's name correctly, and he was obviously delirious at the time. ”
"This is not a normal marriage, it is a 'predatory marriage'. ”
"A 93-year-old man who died within a few days of marrying a 54-year-old woman? ”
And don't forget, Qin was originally a professional lawyer! Langley has reason to suspect that marriage, will, everything, was deliberately guided by Qin using his legal knowledge.
However, Ms. Qin apparently did not accept such accusations, arguing through a spokesperson:
His marriage to Harrington was entirely out of true love, and Harrington loved her deeply and hoped to continue to take care of her after death, so he left her property.
At this point, the case falls into the most standard Rashomon - both sides tell stories in their favor, but neither can prove that what they say is true.
(Stills from "Rashomon")
Both sides have their own opinions, but the verdict is ultimately about evidence, so the focus now is:
Will Langley be able to produce credible evidence that Qin exerted "excessive influence" on Harrington?
After a period of trial, Langley finally won the case.
Her evidence comes from medicine.
Medical evidence suggests that Harrington's mental condition in his final days was quite poor, and he even developed a certain amount of paranoid delusions. In 2015, he moved to his last home, and then bought countless surveillance cameras to build his home into an iron bucket......
Later, under Qin's inducement, he even had the illusion that he was a "veteran major soldier" and had no contact with his daughter for more than 30 years...
According to Langley's lawyer, Qin transferred £350,000 from the old man's account before Harrington's death, under the name of "nursing remuneration".
And Qin, who received the money, refused to even give Harrington a good home, and even threw him into the cheapest local cemetery and buried him hastily...
Qin argued that she only received £100,000 from Harrington and did not take any more money at all.
It's not clear who told the truth on either side, but even if Qin "only" received 100,000 pounds, this "nursing fee" for less than two years is really not cheap (the median income of full-time workers in the UK in 2023 is less than 35,000 pounds)......
In short, since Harrington had forgotten who he was before his death, it was certainly not appropriate to make the decision to amend his will.
In the end, the court found that Qin had indeed exerted "excessive influence" and "control" over Harrington, and ruled that Harrington's will was invalid!
(The court ultimately ruled that Harrington's will was invalid)
Now that Harrington's new Will in 2020 was overturned, it will be deemed to have "not made any Will". The division of Harrington's estate is ultimately up to the courts.
Langley won back a portion of his father's estate.
The Harrington property is currently valued at £680,000, of which Langley will receive £200,000.
As Harrington's legal widow, Qin will also automatically receive a share of the estate of £475,000.
Of course, as the losing party to the lawsuit, she had to pay £139,000 for the legal costs. Qin's final fortune was still £336,000.
Although the family has a scripture that is difficult to read, Harrington's inheritance dispute unexpectedly reached a happy ending...... Sort of.
(Langley最终赢了官司)