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Two nephews are secured a ₤ 400,000 will contest the fortune of a 'houseproud' widow, who disinherited one side of her household after they recommended she go into a care home.

Doreen Stock, 86, passed away childless in 2021 and left her entire estate to her nephew, Simon Stock, and his better half Catherine, who lived just a few minutes from her south London home.
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But her Michigan-based great-nephew, 39-year-old Ben Chiswick, has now introduced a bid to inherit the lot himself - despite not checking out or even talking with her over the phone since his relocation to the US 8 years back.

Propulsion engineer Mr Chiswick had been because of inherit her fortune under a previous will written nearly 40 years ago in 1986 when he was a child, however was considerably disinherited by his great-aunt a year before her death.

The row appeared after his parents suggested Ms Stock hang around in a care home while they enjoyed a three-week vacation.

Fighting to renew the previous will, Mr Chiswick declares Ms Stock, who he says was a 'fixture in his childhood,' was too stricken by dementia to effectively understand what she was doing when she altered her testimony.

However, Simon and his wife are combating the case, declaring Mr Chiswick - who has resided in the US given that 2017 - had no 'significant relationship' with Ms Stock beyond his early years while Mr Stock had actually been 'the closest thing to a kid she had'.

Sitting at Central London County Court, Judge Jane Evans-Gordon heard that 'independent' and periodically 'persistent' Ms Stock had a deep psychological accessory to her home in Charminster Road, Mottingham, having shared it with her spouse Samuel until his death in 2001.

Ben Chiswick, 39, envisioned right with dad Brent, is challenging Doreen Stock's will in the courts after she disinherited him a year before her death

Doreen Stock, 86, died childless in 2021 and left her whole estate to her nephew, Simon Stock (imagined), and his other half Catherine

Without any kids of her own, Ms Stock's first will, made in 1986, left her estate to Mr Chiswick, child of her niece Patricia Chiswick and hubby Brent.

The estate principally consists of the Mottingham house, which is valued online at about ₤ 400,000.

The court heard Ms Stock had actually had a good relationship with the Chiswicks, who assisted her with her shopping and visited her routinely.

She even made a lasting power of lawyer in their favour, however before she passed away revoked the file and changed her will, leaving everything to a nephew on her other half's side.

Challenging the will, Mr Chiswick declares that his great-aunt's dementia in her final years suggests there is severe doubt whether she had the essential capability to make the changes.

And he stated the truth there was no discussion with his side of the family about the new will recommended 'something not right' about her change of mind.

'Doreen and I had an actually pleased relationship and she understood that leaving her estate to me would make an enormous distinction to my life,' he said in his evidence.

For Simon and Catherine, lawyer James McKean informed the court that Ms Stock had actually likewise been close to Simon, who was 'the closest thing to a child she had,' adding to his school costs as a kid.

And although she previously had a close relationship with Mr Chiswick's parents, that was messed up when they recommended she go into a care home in 2019.

Patricia had actually then scheduled a 'capacity evaluation' for her auntie, which the barrister stated caused Ms Stock fearing her self-reliance was being threatened and eventually altering her will.

The estate contains the Mottingham house, which is valued online at about ₤ 400,000

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The court heard there had been 'structure bitterness' with the method 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 - tip to Doreen that she invest a duration in residential care.

'Doreen was, by all accounts, jealously independent. It is little marvel that she found the proposition to be alarming and offensive.

'No doubt Doreen was stressed over the prospect of entering into a home, then was asked to go through the capacity assessment, and put 2 and two together.'

Within weeks of the assessment, which led to a report specifying she 'did not have capacity,' she had begun steps to withdraw the power of attorney and make a brand-new will in Simon and Catherine's favour, he informed the judge.

Quizzing Patricia Chiswick in the witness box, he included: 'Doreen loved her home and it had been her and Samuel's home before his death. There was a deep psychological connection to that residential or commercial property.

'Saying to Doreen that she should leave that residential or commercial property and invest a long time in a care home was offending to her, wasn't it?

'From Doreen's viewpoint, this should have looked a genuine threat to her self-reliance.'

But Patricia denied disturbing the pensioner, firmly insisting that the plan was only ever for a time-out in a care home while she and her hubby went on vacation.

'It was simply an idea due to the fact that we do not normally disappear for three weeks at a time, and I believe she had actually been rather unhealthy and her health was degrading in general,' she stated.

'I was worried about leaving her and I believed it would be quite good if she could go someplace where she might be looked after while we were away.

'It was definitely stressed out that it was for 3 weeks. There was no recommendation she was going to remain there indefinitely.'

The Chiswicks did not visit Ms Stock again between the capacity assessment in 2019 and her death in May 2021.

For Patricia's kid Mr Chiswick, who is the claimant in the event, lawyer Simon Lane said that, at the time she made the brand-new will, she was 'vulnerable and was acting out of character.'

The 2019 evaluation carried out after the recommendation of a care home move had actually led to an expert's finding that she 'lacked capability,' he said.

But Mr McKean said the evaluation was lacking, with Ms Stock responding to with 'irritable hostility' when she was quizzed about things that made no sense to her, such as a fire which never actually happened.

Other evaluations around the same time had actually resulted in findings that she did have capability, although she was suffering with 'mild' dementia,' he stated.

'Doreen may have had some memory issues, however capability and memory are various monsters,' he said.

'The court will have a hard time to find any evidence of impaired cognition or thinking. On the contrary, Doreen's behaviour, values and reasoning were consistent and possible at all times.'

He said there was reason for her to choose to change her will, the last being made more than thirty years formerly, which already Mr Chiswick - living and working on the opposite of the Atlantic - would have been 'far from her mind as a recipient.'

He had not seen her again or perhaps spoken on the phone after relocating to the US, while many of the proof of their relationship originated from when he was a kid.

On the other hand, Mr Stock and his wife had actually had the ability to visit her frequently, living not far from her in Eltham, south London, he stated.

'The court can be shocked neither by the making of the challenged will, nor by Doreen's option of recipients,' he included.

The judge is expected to offer her judgment on the case at a later date.
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