WILL OUTRAGE
Daughter caught on camera ‘forcing’ frail mum’s hand to sign over her entire fortune as she lay on deathbed
Brother brought battle to court after he was cut from will
A DAUGHTER has been caught on camera "forcing" her dying mum's pen hand as she signed over her fortune on her deathbed.
Margaret Baverstock, 76, was so ill she could "barely flicker an eyelid" in March 2021.
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But she managed to sign a will cutting out her son John and leaving everything to his younger sister Lisa.
John, 61, was left with nothing from his mother's estate when she died eight days later.
All her wealth, including her house in Herne Hill, south London, was left to his 55-year-old sister.
He challenged it in court on the basis that a video of the will's signing showed it was "not the independent act of the deceased".
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A judge has now declared the will invalid and handed John half his mum's money.
Central London County Court heard Margaret had been diagnosed with dementia in 2014 and made her last will "on her deathbed".
Electrician John claimed that Lisa had grown resentful towards him in the run-up to his mum's death effectively excluding him from her house.
After learning he had been cut out of the will, he challenged it on grounds that she was too mentally frail to understand what she was doing or signing.
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Videos of the will being signed, produced for the court by Lisa herself, also cast doubt on its validity.
They showed their mum struggling through her final testament while "terminally ill".
The clips revealed former care worker Margaret could only signal her assent to the most basic questions by saying "yeah" or by simply grunting.
The will itself was a homemade document printed from an online template and drafted by Lisa, which named her as Margaret's executor and sole beneficiary.
John claimed his sister, who moved into their mum's home to help care for her in 2019, had become increasingly suspicious and resentful towards him.
This climaxed in a row in February 2021 at the family home.
The "catalyst" for the row was Lisa's fear that "someone was trying to sell the property without her knowledge", explained her brother's barrister.
But Lisa, a former coach driver who represented herself in court, said her mother had been adamant that she should inherit her home.
She insisted that she wanted the will drawn up to reflect her wishes and was fully "compos mentis" at the time.
She said she gave up everything to care for her mother 24/7 claiming that she had begged her brother "crying on the phone to come down and give me respite".
Lisa maintained that from 2017 onwards John "could not be bothered" with his mum.
"As to the will, it was basically how my mother wanted her wishes done," Lisa told the court.
"She didn't want my brother to inherit anything and made that perfectly clear to me over the course of the years."
John, however, insisted that he did his utmost to see and help out their mum - "visiting her regularly, weekly or fortnightly" until his sister effectively shut him out.
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The judge held that Margaret died "intestate", which means the brother and sister must now split her £700,000 assets down the middle.
However Lisa must also pay John's legal fees estimated at up to £80,000.
Writing a will with dementia
ANYONE who makes a will must have 'testamentary capacity'. This legal term means there are specific things that you must be able to understand:
- What making a will means and the effect that it will have.
- What you own and how this might change, including what you may owe or be owed in future.
- Who might expect to be named in your will, and why you are choosing to either leave or not leave things to them.
If a person has dementia, then for their will to be valid, their dementia must not affect their ability to make decisions about the will.
If their dementia might affect their decision-making, it is advisable to get capacity assessment.
This can act as evidence to say someone is, at the time of writing their will, able to make their own decisions.
Read more about .
, and also provides a list of useful organisations.
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