Why did much of J.M.W. Turner’s fortune go to his relatives instead of the charity for struggling artists?

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J.M.W. Turner: The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to Her Last Berth to Be Broken Up, 1838 — J.M.W. Turner *The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to Her Last Berth to Be Broken Up, 1838*, oil on canvas by J.M.W. Turner, 1839; in the National Gallery, London.

J.M.W. Turner’s intention to leave the majority of his £140,000 fortune to establish a charity for "decayed artists" was ultimately thwarted by legal challenges. Following his death in 1851, his distant relatives engaged in protracted litigation regarding his will. As a result of these legal proceedings, the bulk of his fortune reverted to those relatives rather than fulfilling his charitable goal.1

While the financial bequest was lost to his family, his artistic legacy remained secure; his finished paintings were bequeathed to the National Gallery on the condition that a separate gallery be built to house them, and his collection of finished and unfinished works became national property known as the Turner Bequest.1