Two nephews are secured a ₤ 400,000 will contest the fortune of a 'houseproud' widow, who disinherited one side of her household after they recommended she go into a care home.
Doreen Stock, 86, died childless in 2021 and left her entire estate to her nephew, Simon Stock, and his other half Catherine, who lived just a few minutes from her south London home.
But her Michigan-based great-nephew, 39-year-old Ben Chiswick, has now launched a quote to inherit the lot himself - regardless of not going to or perhaps speaking with her over the phone because his move to the US 8 years back.
Propulsion engineer Mr Chiswick had actually been due to inherit her fortune under a previous will composed nearly 40 years back in 1986 when he was a baby, but was considerably disinherited by his great-aunt a year before her death.
The row erupted after his parents suggested Ms Stock spend time in a care home while they delighted in a three-week vacation.
Fighting to restore the previous will, Mr Chiswick claims Ms Stock, who he states was a 'component in his childhood,' was too stricken by dementia to properly understand what she was doing when she changed her testimony.
However, Simon and his better half are combating the case, claiming Mr Chiswick - who has resided in the US since 2017 - had no 'significant relationship' with Ms Stock beyond his early years while Mr Stock had actually been 'the nearby thing to a child she had'.
Sitting at Central London County Court, Judge Jane Evans-Gordon heard that 'independent' and periodically 'persistent' Ms Stock had a deep emotional to her home in Charminster Road, Mottingham, having shared it with her hubby Samuel up until his death in 2001.
Ben Chiswick, 39, envisioned right with father Brent, is challenging Doreen Stock's will in the courts after she disinherited him a year before her death
Doreen Stock, 86, died childless in 2021 and left her entire estate to her nephew, Simon Stock (pictured), and his partner Catherine
With no 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 other half Brent.
The estate primarily includes the Mottingham house, which is valued online at about ₤ 400,000.
The court heard Ms Stock had had a good relationship with the Chiswicks, who helped her with her shopping and visited her frequently.
She even made a lasting power of attorney in their favour, but before she died revoked the document and altered her will, leaving whatever to a nephew on her partner's side.
Challenging the will, Mr Chiswick declares that his great-aunt's dementia in her final years means there is major doubt whether she had the necessary capacity to make the modifications.
And he said the reality there was no conversation with his side of the family about the new will recommended 'something not right' about her change of mind.
'Doreen and I had a truly delighted relationship and she understood that leaving her estate to me would make an enormous difference to my life,' he said in his evidence.
For Simon and Catherine, barrister James McKean told the court that Ms Stock had likewise been close to Simon, who was 'the closest thing to a boy she had,' adding to his school fees as a kid.
And although she formerly had a close relationship with Mr Chiswick's moms and dads, that was destroyed when they suggested she enter into a care home in 2019.
Patricia had actually then arranged for a 'capacity evaluation' for her auntie, which the lawyer said caused Ms Stock fearing her independence was being threatened and ultimately changing her will.
The estate primarily contains the Mottingham home, which is valued online at about ₤ 400,000
Can we present our child 3 of the bed rooms in our house to lower estate tax costs?
The court heard there had actually been 'building animosity' with the method her power of lawyer was being administered, which 'lastly boiled over in the summer season of 2019 when the Chiswicks made an ill-judged - though perhaps well-intentioned - idea to Doreen that she invest a duration in property care.
'Doreen was, by all accounts, jealously independent. It is little marvel that she found the proposal to be alarming and offending.
'No doubt Doreen was fretted about the prospect of going into a home, then was asked to undergo the capability evaluation, and put two and two together.'
Within weeks of the assessment, which resulted in a report specifying she 'did not have capability,' she had actually begun steps to withdraw the power of lawyer and make a brand-new will in Simon and Catherine's favour, he told the judge.
Quizzing Patricia Chiswick in the witness box, he added: 'Doreen enjoyed her home and it had been her and Samuel's home before his death. There was a deep emotional connection to that residential or commercial property.
'Saying to Doreen that she should leave that residential or commercial property and spend a long time in a care home stank to her, wasn't it?
'From Doreen's perspective, this must have looked a real risk to her independence.'
But Patricia denied distressing the pensioner, insisting that the plan was just ever for a short break in a care home while she and her other half went on holiday.
'It was merely a recommendation because we do not normally go away for 3 weeks at a time, and I think she had actually been rather weak and her health was deteriorating in general,' she said.
'I was concerned about leaving her and I thought it would be rather great if she might go somewhere where she could be taken care of while we were away.
'It was definitely stressed out that it was for 3 weeks. There was no tip she was going to stay there forever.'
The Chiswicks did not visit Ms Stock once again in between the capacity evaluation in 2019 and her death in May 2021.
For Patricia's kid Mr Chiswick, who is the complaintant in the case, barrister Simon Lane said that, at the time she made the brand-new will, she was 'vulnerable and was behaving out of character.'
The 2019 assessment conducted after the suggestion of a care home move had led to a specialist's finding that she 'did not have capacity,' he stated.
But Mr McKean said the evaluation wanted, with Ms Stock responding to with 'irritable hostility' when she was quizzed about things that made no sense to her, such as a fire which never ever in fact happened.
Other assessments around the very same time had actually resulted in findings that she did have capacity, although she was suffering with 'mild' dementia,' he said.
'Doreen may have had some memory problems, but capability and memory are different monsters,' he stated.
'The court will struggle to find any evidence of impaired cognition or thinking. On the contrary, Doreen's behaviour, values and thinking were constant and plausible at all times.'
He said there was reason for her to choose to change her will, the last being made more than 30 years formerly, which by then Mr Chiswick - living and dealing with the other side of the Atlantic - would have been 'far from her mind as a beneficiary.'
He had actually not seen her again or even spoken on the phone after moving to the US, while many of the evidence of their relationship came from when he was a child.
On the other hand, Mr Stock and his spouse had actually had the ability to visit her regularly, living not far from her in Eltham, south London, he said.
'The court can be shocked neither by the making of the contested will, nor by Doreen's option of recipients,' he added.
The judge is anticipated to give her ruling on the case at a later date.
1
Aunt Cuts Great-nephew out of ₤ 400k will after Care Home Suggestion
rojrory0601554 edited this page 2025-11-27 11:36:04 +00:00