Nephew cut out of his great aunt’s £400,000 will after his parents suggested she move into a care home loses bitter inheritance row

A nephew who was cut out of his great aunt’s £400,000 will after she branded his side of the family ‘The Rats’ over an ‘offensive suggestion’ she go into a care home has lost a bitter inheritance row.

Doreen Stock, 86, died childless in 2021 and left her entire estate to her nephew, Simon Stock, and his wife Catherine, who lived only a few minutes from her south London home.

Simon claimed he had been like a son to Doreen, but her US-based great nephew, Ben Chiswick, contested the will and launched a transatlantic fight to inherit it himself.

Mr Chiswick, a 39-year-old propulsion engineer living in Michigan, was due to inherit her estate under a previous will written in 1986 when he was a baby. 

But ‘stubborn and houseproud’ Doreen dramatically changed her mind after falling out with Ben’s parents, Patricia and Brent Chiswick – who she branded ‘The Rats’ – over a ‘suggestion’ that she spend time in a care home. 

The pensioner wrote Ben out in 2020, a year before her death, leaving everything instead to her London-based nephew, Simon, and his wife Catherine.

Tax advisor Mr Stock claimed he was ‘the nearest thing to a son’ his aunt ever had and lived close to her south London home, while she had not seen Ben for years after he emigrated to America in 2017 and had not called her since the move, a court heard.

At Central London County Court, Ben challenged the will, claiming Doreen, who he said was a ‘fixture in his childhood,’ 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 power of attorney on her behalf – were ‘unfair’ as they only ever acted in her interests.

Simon Stock (pictured), and his wife Catherine inherited the estate after Doreen Stock changed her will a year before her death

But that did not make her actions ‘irrational’ 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,’ she said.

‘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.’

She concluded: ‘I am satisfied that Doreen did have capacity to make a will in January to March 2020.’

The decision means Simon and Catherine inherit her entire estate, while Ben gets nothing.

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.

She even made a lasting power of attorney in their favour, but before she died revoked the document and changed her will in 2020, leaving everything to a nephew on her husband’s side, Simon, and his wife Catherine.

She died, aged 86, in 2021.

Challenging the will, propulsion engineer Ben claimed there was ‘something not right’ about the change, telling the judge he had had a ‘really happy relationship’ with his great-aunt.

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

However, for the Stocks, barrister James McKean told the court that Doreen had also been close to Simon Stock, who was ‘the nearest thing to a son she had,’ contributing to his school fees as a child.

And although she previously had a close relationship with Ben’s parents, that was ruined when they suggested she go into a care home while they went on holiday in 2019.

To make matters worse, Patricia had then arranged for a ‘capacity assessment’ for her aunt, which the barrister said led to Doreen fearing her independence was being threatened and ultimately changing her will.

There had 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,’ he 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’s favour.

In a judgment now made public, the judge said: ‘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,’ said the judge.

‘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 had not seen his great-aunt for many years, nor spoken to her on the phone or written to her.

‘In contrast, I am satisfied that the Stocks did visit Doreen more frequently and carry out small tasks for her,’ she added.