Jockey Pat Eddery cut children out of his will

Jockey Pat Eddery has left every penny of his £1.3 million estate to his stable girl lover, leaving his four children out in the cold.

Eddery, who died in November 2015 at the age of 63, was in a relationship with Emma Owen, who is 23 years younger.

And probate documents show that in a will drawn up two years before his death, he states that his children should inherit only if Miss Owen died first.

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Eddery had three children with his former wife Carolyn – Nichola, 34, Natasha, 31, and Harry, 22. He also fathered Toby Atkinson, 27, during an affair.

His marriage ended when his wife walked out in 2009, citing his heavy drinking. Soon after, Owen started working for him, and the two quickly began a relationship.

However, according to reports, Eddery's children had become estranged from him, in part because of his drinking. After his death, daughter Natasha revealed on Instagram that she hadn't seen him for five years.

"My sibling and his close friends did all we could to help him battle his illness, but we lost in the end," she said.

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According to the Daily Mail, Eddery's daughter Nichola may be planning to contest the will.

There's no more detail, but the chances are that this challenge will be based on the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, which says dependents should be given 'reasonable financial provision'.

Whether or not relatives count as dependants depends, essentially, on whether they were receiving money from the deceased at the time of death, and whether there's a good explanation of whether they were cut out of the will.

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It's not been invoked often. One example that hit the headlines was the case of Melita Jackson, who died in July 2004 at the age of 70. Having been estranged from daughter Heather Ilott for 26 years, she left her out of her will altogether.

Instead, she left her entire £486,000 estate to The Blue Cross, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

However, in a case that went to the Court of Appeal, judges ruled that the bequests to the charities were not reasonable, as Ms Jackson had had no connection with them while alive. Mrs Ilott was awarded £163,000.