A surgeon who married his colleague with cancer just four days before she died has inherited her entire £10 million fortune.
The surgeon, Dr Chris Lattime is currently in the High Court with Dr Evi Kalodiki’s sister, Maria Karamanoli, as she has left her with nothing. Dr Kalodiki had originally left her fortune split between her co-worker and partner Dr Lattimie and her family, the Daily Mail reported.
However, hours after signing the document on her last wishes on December 27th, 2018, she and Dr Lattimer “tied the knot”.
When Dr Kalodiki died in January, the wedding meant the will was revoked under old laws and she was intestate which meant all of her money would go to her husband.
Judge Master Julia Clark said:
“On December 24th, 2018, the testator left the hospice on a temporary basis to spend Christmas with the claimant and his family in Croydon.
On December 27th, 2018, the claimant drove the testator back to the hospice. His evidence is that on the drive back, she looked terrible, and he became concerned that her time was short.”
In his evidence, Dr Lattimer said:
“I told her that it would be irresponsible and unkind of her to die and leave me all alone and unsupported to face her family.
Evi interjected and stated ‘Are you asking me to marry you?’ At this point, I said that this was not what I meant, but I agreed to the marriage, which Evi took as a proposal by me.”
In his claim, Dr Lattimer, who has since remarried, said that because the marriage came after the will, the will was automatically revoked under the Wills Act 1837.
Mrs Karamanoli is counterclaiming in a bid to “rectify” the December 27th will in order for her sister’s fortune to be divided up as she had wanted when she wrote it as she claims the will was made “in expectation of marriage” and her sister must have wanted it to survive.
Master Clark said Mrs Karamanoli has a “real prospect” of showing that the will is “ambiguous” and that her sister had intended it to “survive her forthcoming marriage” – also adding that “Mrs Karamanoli would be able to put forward the argument at trial that Dr Lattimer might have made a clerical error in writing the will or did not understand Dr Kalodiki’s intentions when he did so”.
She said it was evident from hospital records that Dr Kalodiki was capable of having detailed discussions on a variety of subjects, including rearranging her furniture if she was able to move home.
The full trial of the dispute is set to take place at a later date.
2 responses
If all done legally and above board then the last wishes should stand up in court.
This is should have been over ruled iin our opinion I know what the law is but in this case we think the first will should have stood after all he was not destitute