A court has ruled a woman was ‘unfair’ but not ‘irrational’ when she removed her great nephew as the sole beneficiary of her £400,000 estate.
Judge Jane Evans-Gordon, sitting at Central London County Court, dismissed a challenge to the will of Doreen Stock, who died in 2021 aged 86, brought by her great nephew, 39-year-old USA-based Ben Chiswick (pictured, right).
Mrs Stock, who had no children, had planned to leave her entire estate to Chiswick under a will written when he was a baby. But she changed her mind after falling out with Chiswick’s parents, Patricia and Brent Chiswick, when they suggested she spend time in a care home. A year before her death, Mrs Stock changed the will to leave everything to her London based nephew, Simon Stock, and his wife, Catherine.
Tax advisor Mr Stock, who claimed he was ‘the nearest thing to a son’ his aunt ever had, lived close to her south London home, while she had not seen Ben for years after he emigrated to America, the court heard.
Challenging the will, Chiswick claimed his great aunt was too stricken by dementia to properly understand what she was doing when she disinherited him. Giving judgment, Judge Jane Evans-Gordon found that Doreen’s criticisms of the Chiswicks – who had held a lasting power of attorney – were ‘unfair’ as they only ever acted in her interests.
But that did not make her actions ‘irrational’, she added, and she did not not lack capacity when she wrote their son out of her will.
“[The] evidence was that Doreen was distraught to the point of tears about the suggestion that she would go into a care home. She felt very hurt and upset by the suggestion.
“Doreen’s hostile feelings towards the Chiswicks increased to the point where she referred to them as ‘the Rats.’
“Blaming the Chiswicks may have been unfair, but it was not irrational.”
During a trial earlier this year, the judge heard that ‘independent’ and occasionally ‘stubborn’ Doreen had a deep emotional attachment to her home in Charminster Road, Lewisham, having shared it with her husband Samuel until his death in 2001.
Without any children of her own, Doreen’s first will, made in 1986, ultimately left her estate to Ben, son of her niece Patricia Chiswick and husband Brent. The estate principally contains the Lewisham house, which is valued online at about £400,000.
The court heard Doreen previously had a good relationship with the Chiswicks, who helped her with her shopping and visited her regularly. Although she previously had a close relationship with the family, that was ruined when they suggested she go into a care home while they went on holiday in 2019, the court heard.
When Patricia Chiswick arranged for a capacity assessment’ for her aunt, Mrs Stock feared her independence was being threatened, which led to her changing her will.
There had also been ‘building resentment’ with the way her power of attorney was being administered, which ‘finally boiled over in the summer of 2019 when the Chiswicks made an ill-judged – though perhaps well-intentioned – suggestion to Doreen that she spend a period in residential care’, the Stocks’ barrister James McKean said.
“Doreen was, by all accounts, jealously independent. It is little wonder that she found the proposition to be alarming and offensive.
“No doubt Doreen was worried about the prospect of going into a home, then was asked to undergo the capacity assessment, and put two and two together.”
Within weeks of the assessment, she had begun steps to revoke the power of attorney and make a new will in Simon and Catherine Stock’s favour.
The judge explained:
“In or around May 2019, the Chiswicks were arranging a three-week holiday in August and were concerned that Doreen might struggle to cope in their absence.
“They investigated care homes and suggested to Doreen that she might like to spend the period of their holiday in a particular care home, the brochure for which they left with her.
“Although Doreen initially agreed that a respite break might be a good idea, she later changed her mind. It appears to be common ground that she was upset by the suggestion.
“While the Chiswicks thought that Doreen might like the respite home and consider moving permanently, I am satisfied that they did not promote the idea of a permanent move to Doreen.
“Doreen started expressing dissatisfaction with the Chiswicks…at the time the discussions about a care home were first held.
“[The] evidence was that Doreen was distraught to the point of tears about the suggestion that she would go into a care home. She felt very hurt and upset by the suggestion.
“Doreen’s hostile feelings towards the Chiswicks increased to the point where she referred to them as ‘the Rats’.
“There was a concrete basis for Doreen’s dissatisfaction with the Chiswicks although, in my judgment, her assessment of them was unfair.
“However, being wrong about somebody or their conduct does not render a decision incapacitous.
“Mrs Chiswick told me that, in the background, there was a hope that Doreen would like it sufficiently well to move into it full time.
“This hope may well have communicated itself to Doreen. Mrs Chiswick arranged the capacity assessment…which caused Doreen considerable upset.
“Blaming the Chiswicks may have been unfair, but it was not irrational.”
She said it was also a fact that Ben Chiswick had not seen his great-aunt for many years, nor spoken to her on the phone or written to her.
She added:
“In contrast, I am satisfied that the Stocks did visit Doreen more frequently and carry out small tasks for her…
“I am satisfied that Doreen did have capacity to make a will in January to March 2020.”
The decision means Mr and Mrs Stock inherit the entire estate, while Ben Chiswick gets nothing.
