Two nephews are secured a ₤ 400,000 will fight over the fortune of a 'houseproud' widow, who disinherited one side of her family after they suggested she enter into a care home.
Doreen Stock, 86, died childless in 2021 and left her whole estate to her nephew, Simon Stock, and his spouse Catherine, who lived just a couple of minutes from her south London home.
But her Michigan-based great-nephew, 39-year-old Ben Chiswick, has now introduced a bid to acquire the lot himself - in spite of not going to and even consulting with her over the phone given that his transfer to the US 8 years earlier.
Propulsion engineer Mr Chiswick had actually been due to acquire her fortune under a previous will written nearly 40 years earlier in 1986 when he was an infant, but was significantly disinherited by his great-aunt a year before her death.
The row appeared after his parents suggested Ms Stock invest time in a care home while they enjoyed a three-week vacation.
Fighting to reinstate the previous will, Mr Chiswick claims Ms Stock, who he says was a 'fixture in his youth,' was too stricken by dementia to correctly comprehend what she was doing when she altered her testament.
However, Simon and his better half are battling the case, declaring Mr Chiswick - who has actually resided in the US since 2017 - had no 'meaningful relationship' with Ms Stock beyond his early years while Mr Stock had been 'the closest thing to a kid she had'.
Sitting at Central London County Court, Judge Jane Evans-Gordon heard that 'independent' and sometimes 'persistent' Ms Stock had a deep emotional accessory to her home in Charminster Road, Mottingham, having actually shared it with her other half Samuel up until his death in 2001.
Ben Chiswick, 39, pictured right with daddy Brent, is challenging Doreen Stock's will in the courts after she disinherited him a year before her death
Doreen Stock, 86, passed away childless in 2021 and left her whole estate to her nephew, Simon Stock (pictured), and his spouse Catherine
Without any children of her own, Ms Stock's very first will, made in 1986, left her estate to Mr Chiswick, boy of her niece Patricia Chiswick and partner Brent.
The estate mainly consists of the Mottingham home, which is valued online at about ₤ 400,000.
The court heard Ms Stock had actually had an excellent relationship with the Chiswicks, who helped her with her shopping and visited her frequently.
She even made an enduring power of attorney in their favour, but before she died revoked the document and altered her will, leaving everything to a nephew on her husband's side.
Challenging the will, Mr Chiswick declares that his great-aunt's dementia in her final years suggests there is serious doubt whether she had the essential capacity to make the changes.
And he said the fact there was no conversation with his side of the family about the new will suggested 'something not right' about her modification of mind.
'Doreen and I had a truly pleased relationship and she comprehended that leaving her estate to me would make a massive difference to my life,' he said in his proof.
For Simon and Catherine, barrister James McKean told the court that Ms Stock had also been close to Simon, who was 'the nearest thing to a kid she had,' adding to his school fees as a child.
And although she previously had a close relationship with Mr Chiswick's moms and dads, that was messed up when they she go into a care home in 2019.
Patricia had then set up for a 'capability evaluation' for her aunt, which the barrister stated resulted in Ms Stock fearing her self-reliance was being threatened and eventually changing her will.
The estate primarily consists of the Mottingham house, which is valued online at about ₤ 400,000
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The court heard there had actually been 'building animosity' with the method her power of attorney was being administered, which 'finally boiled over in the summertime of 2019 when the Chiswicks made an ill-judged - though maybe well-intentioned - suggestion to Doreen that she spend a period in property care.
'Doreen was, by all accounts, jealously independent. It is little wonder that she found the proposition to be disconcerting and offensive.
'No doubt Doreen was fretted about the possibility of entering into a home, then was asked to go through the capability evaluation, and put 2 and two together.'
Within weeks of the assessment, which led to a report specifying she 'lacked capability,' she had actually begun actions to withdraw the power of attorney and make a brand-new will in Simon and Catherine's favour, he told the judge.
Quizzing Patricia Chiswick in the witness box, he included: 'Doreen loved her home and it had actually been her and Samuel's home before his death. There was a deep psychological connection to that residential or commercial property.
'Saying to Doreen that she should leave that residential or commercial property and spend some time in a care home stank to her, wasn't it?
'From Doreen's perspective, this must have looked a real hazard to her self-reliance.'
But Patricia denied distressing the pensioner, firmly insisting that the plan was just ever for a time-out in a care home while she and her husband went on vacation.
'It was merely a suggestion since we don't generally go away for 3 weeks at a time, and I believe she had been quite weak and her health was weakening in basic,' she stated.
'I was worried about leaving her and I believed it would be rather good if she might go someplace where she might be cared for while we were away.
'It was definitely stressed out that it was for 3 weeks. There was no recommendation she was going to remain there forever.'
The Chiswicks did not check out Ms Stock again between the capability evaluation in 2019 and her death in May 2021.
For Patricia's boy Mr Chiswick, who is the claimant in the case, barrister Simon Lane said that, at the time she made the brand-new will, she was 'susceptible and was behaving out of character.'
The 2019 assessment conducted after the idea of a care home move had actually resulted in a professional's finding that she 'did not have capacity,' he said.
But Mr McKean stated the assessment was deficient, with Ms Stock addressing with 'prickly hostility' when she was quizzed about things that made no sense to her, such as a fire which never actually took place.
Other evaluations around the exact same time had resulted in findings that she did have capacity, although she was suffering with 'mild' dementia,' he stated.
'Doreen might have had some memory problems, however capability and memory are various monsters,' he said.
'The court will struggle to find any evidence of impaired cognition or thinking. On the contrary, Doreen's behaviour, values and reasoning corresponded and possible at all times.'
He stated there was reason for her to decide to change her will, the last being made more than thirty years previously, which by then Mr Chiswick - living and working on the opposite of the Atlantic - would have been 'far from her mind as a recipient.'
He had actually not seen her again or perhaps spoken on the phone after relocating to the US, while the majority of the evidence of their relationship came from when he was a child.
On the other hand, Mr Stock and his wife had had the ability to visit her routinely, living not far from her in Eltham, south London, he stated.
'The court can be stunned neither by the making of the disputed will, nor by Doreen's option of beneficiaries,' he included.
The judge is anticipated to give her ruling on the case at a later date.
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Aunt Cuts Great-nephew out of ₤ 400k will after Care Home Suggestion
sidneyhayman8 edited this page 2025-06-16 09:59:04 +08:00