Inheritance in Britain

I'd like to know about the British law in that matter: is it true you can disinherit your own children and choose freely who wil inherit?

If you make a legal will then you can specify exactly who the beneficiaries are. So yes, you and you alone decide where your assets are going.

...and whose ass, according to the various stories we've recently read gets walloped.

Providing you are of sound mind. But wills can be challenged after death.
There are also rules for intestacy.

That's true - however a will can be challenged if it's been improperly made out (e.g. without signatories), a suspected fraud or where the beneficiary can be accused of coercion or the testator was no longer of sound mind. But it's a bit of a minefield!.

Depending on your local laws (which might be quite complex), you probably can't totally disinherit a legal dependent, such as a minor child and perhaps not even an able-bodied wife.

I believe one fairly watertight method to disinherit someone is to mention them by name. Often done by sending "greetings", or "respects" in the text of the will. That way, they can't claim that they were somehow forgotten by the senile old dear.

In the United States a testator in his/her will can't disinherit a spouse. It also can't ask a beneficiary to do anything that is either illegal or immoral to benefit from the will. They also can't tell a person that they can't contest a will because it's their right to do so in any case.

So, with most of our stories, although fictitious, those receiving punishments re: bare bottom spankings from anyone would be considered an immoral act on the one delivering the punishment. This is especially with a lawyer, who would probably end up with the Bar Association revoking or suspending their license. Can you imagine a lawyer standing in open court admitting to putting a beneficiary over their knee?

At the end of my story, To Be Or Not To Be, the Governor for Christine was Mr. Crowley. At the end of the story I mention that he was also a lawyer. That wasn't a good idea on my part, and I realized it after I sent it in. What lawyer would really risk his bar license? The part that saved me was when I mentioned the father would allow the governess and governor to see what spoiled brats and cowards they were it they contested the will. So, in essence, I got away with it with Mr. Crowley.

I suppose we may have violated a good many technicalities of the law. But for the purpose, I don't object to taking a little license to make a good story.

Then again, you're not a lawyer with two swimming pools, a $500,000 home, a jaguar, and a bank account that would put the Beverly Hillbillies to shame. LOL

Or of course by bequeathing them a heavy wooden hairbrush