No

"Well, this is a surprise," said my boss, "and it's very unusual for us to allow someone to leave with no notice period at all. And we'll be very sorry to see you go, you'll leave a [my_name]-shaped gap behind which will be hard to fill.

"But the policy says it's down to manager's discretion. This is a very generous amount of money and will help use out financially - and I think your loyalty to us over the years merits something back. Your family needs you and that has to come first. It would be silly to keep you here as you'd be distracted anyway.

"So if course you can go. Please could you write a note of anything you need to hand-over work wise and I'll delegate it to the rest of the team. My sincere condolences on your loss, but congratulations on your new wealth and good luck with sorting the family business out. Do come back to see us sometime!"

That was pretty much it. After writing up that hand-over note, packing a few things up and saying goodbye to some of my colleagues, I was free to go.