Inheritance battle as judge told stepdaughter to ‘get a job’

Elaine Ames became embroiled in a bitter court battle with her stepdaughter Danielle, who was left out of her father's £1 million will
Danielle claimed she should have been entitled to £300,000
Not only did Danielle not receive a penny of her father’s will, she was also ordered to pay her stepmother’s £87,000 legal costs
Elaine said: ‘The judge did the right thing, but there is no victory here'

+9Elaine Aimes, 63, is the stepmother of Danielle Ames, who was cut out out of her father's £1 million will

Michael Ames was such a hugely private man that, when he died three years ago from a heart attack at 62, he didn’t want those he loved to view him in the Chapel of Rest, let alone lay bare his personal life to the world.

But little more than a week ago, that is exactly what happened when the entrepreneur’s daughter from an earlier marriage, Danielle, took her stepmother Elaine Ames, 63, to Central London County Court in an unseemly battle over her father’s £1 million fortune.

Michael had bequeathed his entire estate to Elaine, his partner of more than 30 years, while Danielle, his only child, was left nothing.

And so Elaine had to sit and listen as the jobless 41-year-old mother-of-two stood in court and painted her father as a serial womaniser who cared little for his wife. It was her, his flesh and blood, he doted on, she argued, and who he’d promised his highly successful glazing empire ‘will be yours one day’.

After all, she pleaded, why should a family business started by her maternal grandfather end up in the hands of her stepsisters, Martine, 44, and Cherie, 41, while she, her father’s only daughter, was left struggling to bring up his grandchildren on her partner’s £800 monthly wage, plus benefits? Why indeed?

Rarely had a family battle resonated with so many. In an age when marriages are tossed aside on a whim and children are left with more steps (mother, father, brothers, sisters) than a flight of stairs, the case seemed to epitomise the heartache suffered by an only child pushed aside by a decree absolute and a new wife.

+9Michael Ames (pictured) bequeathed his entire estate to Elaine, his partner of more than 30 years, while Danielle, his only child, was left nothing



Yet the ruling was perfectly rational: Elaine, as Michael’s legal wife, inherited everything upon her husband’s death, which is standard, and, in turn, fully expected to pass on everything to all their children when she eventually died.

And now, far from emerging as a modern-day Cinderella, Danielle has become a national byword for indolent greed after Judge Halpern deemed her to be an unreliable witness who ‘gilded the lily’.

She’d claimed she deserved a payout of £300,000. However, Judge David Halpern ruled: ‘Danielle has no disability and is fit to work. In contrast, Elaine is past working age and it is apparent that she is not well.

‘I conclude that her lack of employment is a lifestyle choice. That alone is sufficient to defeat her claim.’

Not only did Danielle not receive a penny of her father’s will, she was also ordered to pay her stepmother’s £87,000 legal costs.

+9Daughter: Danielle Ames (picture) has taken her stepmother to court after being left out of her father's will

Yet, in her first interview since the ruling, Elaine says it brings her little joy. ‘The judge did the right thing,’ she says, ‘but there is no victory here. I just feel so sorry for Michael and what his daughter’s done to his name. Calling him a philanderer and things was terrible. Awful.

‘I couldn’t believe she sat there and told so many blatant lies. She said he had mistresses, but how could he? We were always together. We got up at the same time. We came downstairs. We had breakfast together. We’d drive to work together.

‘He’d go into his glazing business and I’d go into my shop [Elaine runs a balloon shop with daughter Cherie]. We’d meet for lunch. Close our shops. Go home. He’d be in here.’

She means the swish sitting room where we sit. ‘I’d cook out there.’ She nods towards her black-and-white tiled kitchen. ‘We’d have our meal. Go to bed.

‘He was a good man, but he was portrayed as someone who was vile. But . . .’ She pauses. Shakes her head. ‘She was his daughter and he loved her, so what do I do? I don’t know. I sleep with Michael’s photo under my pillow and talk to him every day. I say: “Please help me sort this out.” ’

+9Elaine Ames with her late husband, who died three years ago from a heart attack. She has since been taken to court by her stepdaughter in a dispute over his £1 million will

Elaine, you see, is not the sort of wicked stepmother found in the pages of a Grimm’s fairytale. Instead of crowing from the rooftops at her stepdaughter’s comeuppance as well she might — after all, Danielle stood in a witness box and swore under oath her father even had a mistress at the time of his death — she pities her.

I sleep with Michael’s photo under my pillow and talk to him every day. I say: 'Please help me sort this out'Elaine Ames

Far from cutting off his daughter financially, Elaine knows full well Michael wished for all of their three daughters — Danielle, Martine and Cherie (‘we didn’t do steps’) — to be remembered in her will on her death.

‘How can I do that now after all she’s said?’ asks Elaine. ‘But I know that’s what Michael wanted. He loved her. All of this isn’t just her fault . . .’

She is referring to Michael’s ex-wife — and Danielle’s mother — Carlene, from whom he split more than 30 years ago. It was their bitter divorce, she suspects, which may have played a part in how events unfolded.

There are, of course, two sides to every story. Danielle and her mother shared theirs with a Sunday news-paper last week, repeating the unfounded claims of mistresses and another will, superseding the one he signed in 2005 leaving his estate to his wife.

Source: Daily Mail