Unnecessary
My father was contacted by Pro-Gen-Research regarding a will left by his grandfather, who passed away over fifty years ago.
As you can imagine, he was quite surprised to learn that his affairs were still unresolved. Shortly after this, both my brother and I also received letters.
After some investigation, we discovered that my father had specifically been disinherited by his grandfather (including all his descendants). This made the whole exercise seem pointless. However, knowing the nature of the legal profession, it’s likely that the unnecessary correspondence will be charged to the estate, which seems unjust.
What made matters worse was that my father was undergoing treatment for cancer when Pro-Gen-Research contacted him. He had a very difficult childhood, and this whole ordeal stirred up old feelings of hurt and rejection, which he had worked so hard to overcome in his life. Sadly, he passed away two weeks later.
I understand that my father’s passing is not the company’s fault, as his diagnosis was simply unfortunate timing. However, surely greater care could have been taken. They didn’t need to contact him, and they certainly didn’t need to involve my brother and me.
It was both my father and my family’s feeling that the intention was to maximise profits, by creating more work that can be charged to the estate, regardless of its usefulness.
