Danielle Ames, 41, has failed to win a share of her late father's estate after a judge told her to get a job

A daughter cut out of her entrepreneur father's £1million will has been refused a slice of his fortune and told by a judge to get a job.

For Danielle Ames, 41, unemployment was 'a lifestyle choice' and she was fit and able to work, said Judge David Halpern QC.

The mother-of-two had told a London court said she 'idolised' her father, Michael Ames who ran a highly successful glazing business in the capital.

She claimed he promised her 'it will be all yours one day', but was shocked when he wrote her out of his will.

She went to court arguing that she was dependent on her father and deserved a payout of about £300,000 as 'reasonable provision' from his estate.

But Judge Halpern said she had 'exaggerated' the strength of her relationship with her father and had no moral claim on his money.

He told Central London County Court: 'I conclude that her lack of employment is a lifestyle choice. That alone is sufficient to defeat her claim'.

Her situation was made worse by the estimated £130,000 legal bills she has run up while arguing about the will.

Mr Ames died suddenly, aged just 63, in 2013, and left everything he had to Danielle's step-mother, Elaine Ames.

Danielle said disinheritance had been left facing crushing debts, with her outgoings exceeding her income by £2,000-a-month.

But Judge Halpern said Elaine, 63, who was Mr Ames's life partner for over 30 years, needed every penny of his fortune to lead a comfortable retirement.

The widow earlier told the judge her husband would have been 'incandescent with rage' had he lived to see Danielle claiming a share of his money.

Ms Ames said her father, Michael Ames (pictured) with her would have wanted her to be provided for after his death, but a judge found to the contrary

She insisted he had deliberately left his daughter nothing, as he believed grown-up children should 'look after themselves.'

His powerful work ethic meant he had even made his grandchildren toil for their pocket money, the court heard.

Mr Ames divorced Danielle's mum, Carleen, in the 1970s, and lived with Elaine from 1980 onwards, marrying her in 2001.

The estate will instead go to Elaine Ames, who was Mr Ames's partner for over 30 years

His estate was valued at just over £1 million for probate, including the £650,000 family home in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire - where Elaine still lives.

Danielle claimed his decision to disinherit her consigned her to living on a shoestring in a three-bedroom rented home, in Enfield, with her partner, Lornis Branch, and their children.

They only had her partner's £800 monthly wage to get by one, plus benefits, the court was told.

But Judge Halpern said Danielle was a 'young girl' when her parents divorced and her father had been generous to her over the years.

He had given her 'considerable financial assistance', including setting her up in a picture framing business in the 1990s.

However, the court heard Danielle gave that up in 2003 when she became a mother.

Her claim that her father had told her 'it will all be yours one day' was simply 'untrue' and 'gilding the lilly', the judge said.

She was, he added, an 'unreliable' witness who was 'not above inventing or embellishing facts if she could see no other way of sticking to her story'.

Elaine's evidence impressed the judge 'more favourably' than Danielle's, but she too was 'not always accurate'.

The widow's description of the relationship between father and daughter as 'rocky and distant' was also 'an exaggeration'.

The estate, including Mr Ames home in Hoddesdon, was left to the late Mr Ames' partner

The judge 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.

Elaine, he added, was not living the high life and she needed the whole of her husband's estate 'to meet her reasonable needs'.

The widow's legal costs of the case were estimated at £85,000 and Danielle's at £47,000.