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Opened Jun 17, 2025 by Justina Trundle@justinatrundle
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Aunt Cuts Great-nephew out of ₤ 400k will after Care Home Suggestion

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Two nephews are locked in a ₤ 400,000 will combat over the fortune of a 'houseproud' widow, who disinherited one side of her household after they suggested she enter into a care home.

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

But her Michigan-based great-nephew, 39-year-old Ben Chiswick, has now released a bid to inherit the lot himself - regardless of not going to and even talking to her over the phone because his relocate to the US eight years ago.

Propulsion engineer Mr Chiswick had actually been because of inherit her fortune under a previous will composed practically 40 years earlier in 1986 when he was a baby, but was dramatically disinherited by his great-aunt a year before her death.

The row appeared after his moms and dads suggested Ms Stock hang around in a care home while they enjoyed a three-week holiday.

Fighting to renew the previous will, Mr Chiswick claims Ms Stock, who he states was a 'component in his childhood,' was too stricken by dementia to effectively comprehend what she was doing when she changed her testament.

However, Simon and his other half are fighting the case, declaring Mr Chiswick - who has lived in the US since 2017 - had no 'meaningful relationship' with Ms Stock beyond his early years while Mr Stock had been 'the nearby thing to a kid she had'.

Sitting at Central London County Court, Judge Jane Evans-Gordon heard that 'independent' and sometimes 'stubborn' Ms Stock had a deep psychological attachment to her home in Charminster Road, Mottingham, having actually shared it with her other half Samuel till his death in 2001.

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

Doreen Stock, 86, passed away childless in 2021 and left her whole estate to her nephew, Simon Stock (pictured), 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, boy of her niece Patricia Chiswick and partner Brent.

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

The court heard Ms Stock had actually had an excellent relationship with the Chiswicks, who helped her with her shopping and visited her routinely.

She even made a long lasting power of attorney in their favour, however before she passed away withdrawed the file and changed her will, leaving whatever to a nephew on her spouse's side.

Challenging the will, Mr Chiswick declares that his great-aunt's dementia in her final years implies there is serious doubt whether she had the necessary capacity to make the modifications.

And he said the reality there was no discussion with his side of the household about the new will suggested 'something not right' about her modification of mind.

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

For Simon and Catherine, barrister James McKean informed the court that Ms Stock had actually also been close to Simon, who was 'the closest thing to a boy she had,' contributing to his school costs as a child.

And although she previously had a close relationship with Mr Chiswick's moms and dads, that was ruined when they recommended she go into a care home in 2019.

Patricia had actually then scheduled a 'capacity assessment' for her auntie, which the barrister stated caused Ms Stock fearing her independence was being threatened and ultimately changing her will.

The estate primarily consists of the Mottingham home, which is valued online at about ₤ 400,000

Can we present our daughter 3 of the bed rooms in our home to lower inheritance tax bill?

The court heard there had actually been 'building animosity' with the way her power of attorney was being administered, which 'lastly boiled over in the summer season of 2019 when the Chiswicks made an ill-judged - though perhaps well-intentioned - suggestion to Doreen that she invest a period in property care.

'Doreen was, by all accounts, jealously independent. It is little marvel that she found the proposal to be worrying and offending.

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

Within weeks of the evaluation, which led to a report mentioning she 'did not have capability,' she had begun actions to revoke the power of attorney and make a new will in Simon and Catherine's favour, he told the judge.

Quizzing Patricia Chiswick in the witness box, he included: 'Doreen liked 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 spend some time in a care home stank to her, wasn't it?

'From Doreen's point of view, this should have looked a real threat to her self-reliance.'

But Patricia denied disturbing the pensioner, firmly insisting that the strategy was only ever for a short break in a care home while she and her husband went on vacation.

'It was simply a tip because we do not typically disappear for 3 weeks at a time, and I believe she had actually been quite weak and her health was degrading in basic,' she stated.

'I was concerned about leaving her and I believed it would be rather great if she could go somewhere where she might be cared for while we were away.

'It was definitely stressed that it was for three weeks. There was no idea she was going to remain there forever.'

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

For Patricia's child Mr Chiswick, who is the claimant in the case, barrister Simon Lane stated that, at the time she made the brand-new will, she was 'vulnerable and was acting out of character.'

The 2019 evaluation conducted after the idea of a care home relocation had resulted in an expert's finding that she 'did not have capacity,' he said.

But Mr McKean said the assessment was deficient, with Ms Stock answering with 'irritable hostility' when she was quizzed about things that made no sense to her, such as a fire which never ever in fact took place.

Other evaluations around the very same time had actually led to findings that she did have capacity, although she was experiencing 'mild' dementia,' he said.

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

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

He said there was reason for her to decide to alter her will, the last being made more than thirty years formerly, and that by then Mr Chiswick - living and working on the other side of the Atlantic - would have been 'far from her mind as a beneficiary.'

He had not seen her again or even spoken on the phone after moving to the US, while the majority of the proof of their relationship originated from when he was a child.

On the other hand, Mr Stock and his partner had actually been able to visit her frequently, living not far from her in Eltham, south London, he stated.
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'The court can be stunned neither by the making of the challenged will, nor by Doreen's option of recipients,' he added.

The judge is anticipated to provide her ruling on the case at a later date.

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Reference: justinatrundle/costaricafsbo#1