A court should not ‘be drawn into the trap of assuming that a person would act in a particular way because in the same period there would be a stigma attached to a child out of wedlock in England’ as a wealthy bachelor’s fortune has become the subject of an inheritance dispute spanning the Atlantic.
McDonald Noel, who emigrated from Trinidad to London in 1960, died a wealthy man in 2018 at 84 leaving an estate worth £2.7m, including a £1.5m Kensington home, and no Will. Heir hunters Hoopers have sought to locate potential beneficiaries but the investigation has revealed a complicated family history across the UK and Caribbean and a very different attitude toward non-marital relations than in the UK at the time. Having ordered a DNA test a High Court judge is now carrying out a “kin enquiry” and rule on who should inherit.
McDonald Noel had been born in 1934 in Trinidad to Stanley Dorant (originally from Barbados) and Neutrice Dorant.
Neutrice Dorant came into the relationship with one child, Stella, born in 1933. In 1938 Neutrice Dorant died and Stanley married Clementina Forde in 1939. Clementina had two sons, Clyde and St Clair, and the couple went on to have a a son Francis.
The complication arose when the descendants of Clementina’s sons said Stanley Dorant was Clyde and St Clair’s father too, having had a a relationship with Clementina on his visits back to Barbados. It is also claimed Stella, the daughter of Neutrice, was Stanley Dorant’s daughter, leaving her son Gerard Burton, and Francis’s son Shaka also laying claim to the money.
“It is the romantic life of McDonald’s father Stanley which is central to the genealogical questions which arise in this case.”
said a representative of St Clair’s descendants, presenting evidence of travel between Trinidad and Barbados by Stanley Dorant and suggesting he and Clementina were from the same area and knew each other before he left Barbados for Trinidad.
“The questions before this court in this trial are how many children Stanley fathered, with whom, and who they were. The outcome will determine whether Gerard is the sole beneficiary of McDonald’s estate or whether other branches of the family – those of Shaka, Desiree and Tyler – take as beneficiaries under the rules of intestacy alongside Gerard.”
“The court is invited to conclude that Clementina’s initial liaison with Stanley in Barbados resulted in the birth of Clyde. There is compelling evidence that Stanley was St Clair’s father. This is documentary evidence, witness evidence and DNA evidence.
concluding McDonald’s estate should be distributed on the basis that Stanley fathered McDonald, Clyde, St Clair and Francis.
On the other hand, said Aidan Briggs representing Francis’ son Shaka, “there are only two children on whose birth certificate Stanley Dorant is named as the father; McDonald and Francis. Although it is possible that Stanley fathered other children, the evidence which has been produced is equally consistent with him being treated as ‘father’ after his marriage to Clementina, or being ‘claimed’ as father by Stella.”
Briggs suggested even if Stanley had acted as a father to all of the children, it shouldn’t be assumed they were his, adding Caribbean society was more accepting of such relationships and there was a trend for “mothers attributing paternity to men particularly for financial reasons – what is referred to in the British Caribbean as ‘giving a man a jacket’.”
“It’s important not to apply middle-class English norms to a Caribbean setting. The DNA evidence supports Stella and Francis’ claims, and should encourage the court against the claims of Clyde and St Clair. The court must be satisfied on the balance of probabilities that Stanley had any other children. The claimant’s (Shaka’s) submission is that the court cannot be so satisfied on the evidence presented.”
A ruling on the case is due at a later date.
