Two brothers are fighting over their father’s £400,000 estate after a new will was written three months before his death, removing the elder brother as a beneficiary, with the younger brother accused of financial abuse.
Gowerdhan Dass, 89, died in February 2024, leaving his estate to his youngest son, driving instructor Harish Verma, and Harish’s wife, Paramjit.
Dass’s will was made in November 2023. An earlier will from 2015 divided his estate equally among the families of Harish, Bani, and Dass’s two other children.
The 2023 will is at the centre of a legal dispute at Central London County Court between Harish, 57, and his older brother, Bani Verma, 67, a taxi driver.
Bani says their dad was “unduly influenced” to make the new will and that Harish had transferred “streams” of cash from his dad’s accounts, including using £18,750 to buy a Jaguar Land Rover car for his wife.
Richard Buston, the barrister for Bani, said Dass’s finances had been “decimated” by Harish.
Harish insists Bani had been emotionally distant from their father and had disrespected him in his final years, even wearing a “Scottish tartan Tam O Shanter” hat and “laughing” on the day of his funeral.
Nina Roberts, counsel for Harish, told Judge Jonathan Cohen that Dass had visited Harish “every day” after moving to Slough from Southall in 2010, and that despite trusting and relying on his younger son he continued to live an independent life – even visiting India for two to four months of the year.
Despite Bani’s claims that he visited his dad, who had been a surveyor before working at Heathrow Airport, up to four times per year, Roberts said evidence indicated that “the last time he visited his father was in January 2022”.
Roberts presented Dass’s mobile phone logs which showed no calls from Bani between February 2022 and his father’s death.
The solicitor who drew up the 2023 will recorded “lack of contact” with Bani as the motivation for removing him from among the beneficiaries.
Harish’s barrister also claimed Bani showed “disrespect” for their father both during his life and even afterwards.
Bani’s barrister rejected the claims, telling the judge that Harish had cut him off from contact with their dad in his final years.
Buston said: “Bani Verma contends that, during the material period, the deceased was elderly, frail and was isolated by (Harish) and (his wife), who have taken control over his finances and in the latest round of bank statements disclosed appeared to have made repeated and significant withdrawals / transfers / payments from the deceased’s accounts, running them down.”
“In short, Bani says the deceased was vulnerable and was exploited by Harish, who over time made himself joint account holder to the deceased’s accounts and shut the deceased off from friends and family and had a hand in the creation of the 2023 will.”
Despite Harish’s insistence that he did not control his father’s finances, Buston said this was “difficult to reconcile” with multiple cash transfers involving a “substantial amount of the deceased’s money”.
He pinpointed seven specific cash transfers, totalling around £41,000, made to Harish or his family, which he claimed called for an explanation – including £18,750 paid into Harish’s account to buy a Jaguar Land Rover “subsequently said to have been gifted to Paramjit”.
Other non-specific amounts of cash originating from Dass’s accounts were allegedly spent on Harish’s “family travel, celebrations, food and gifts”.
Roberts said Harish denies inducing his dad to “falsely believe that Bani did not call or visit” – denying claims of “fraudulent calumny” by her client.
“The deceased was a jolly, sociable man who had a close relationship with his youngest son, as demonstrated by their involvement in each other’s lives, including financial transactions dating back to the joint purchase of a property in India in the 1990s,“ she said.
“Whilst Bani may have expected an inheritance as the son of the deceased, this does not lead to Harish having coerced his father into making the 2023 will.”
After two days in court, the judge adjourned the case in order for the parties to gather more evidence. The case is set to resume later this month.
