A man has won a legal fight over his late mother’s £700,000 (S$1.2 million) estate after a court ruled that his sister improperly forced their dying mother to sign a will that disinherited him.
Family Feud Over Mother’s Will
John Baverstock, 61, took his sister Lisa Baverstock, 55, to court after discovering that their mother’s final will left everything to Lisa and cut him out completely, leaving her assets, including her home on Guernsey Grove in Herne Hill, South London, to his sister.
According to The Independent, their mother, Margaret Baverstock, signed the document in March 2021, just eight days before she passed away at age 76.
At the time, Margaret was suffering from dementia, arthritis, and suspected lung congestion. John argued that she was too weak to make an informed decision and claimed Lisa had taken advantage of their mother’s condition.
Video Evidence Shown in Court
The turning point in the case came when the court reviewed video footage of Margaret signing the will.
The video, which Lisa herself submitted as evidence, showed her physically forcing a pen into their mother’s clenched fist while Margaret lay in bed, barely responsive.
In the video, Lisa can be heard telling her mother, “Mum, relax,” as she struggled to wedge the pen into her hand.
Lisa then asked, “Do you agree to this?” to which Margaret responded with only a faint grunt. Lisa then proceeded to guide her mother’s hand to make a mark on the document.
Judge Ruled Will Invalid
Judge Jane Evans-Gordon ruled that Margaret had “no idea what was going on” at the time and was unable to make an independent decision.
The judge determined that Lisa had physically moved her mother’s hand to create the signature, making the will legally invalid.
Court Orders Estate to be Split
With no other valid will in place, the judge ruled that Margaret had died ‘intestate’ (without a legally binding will). Under UK inheritance laws, this means her estate will now be divided equally between John and Lisa.
Additionally, Lisa was ordered to pay John’s legal fees, which could amount to £80,000 (SGD 146,000).
Top photos courtesy of Champion News via Daily Mail.
Watch the video here:
@dailymail This is the dramatic moment a daughter clasped her dying mother’s hand, forced a pen into it, and ‘propelled’ her to sign a $900,000 fortune to her. Margaret Baverstock, 76, was so ill she could ‘barely flicker an eyelid’ in March 2021 when she was ‘forced’ to sign a will by her daughter Lisa. The cold-hearted act resulted in her older brother John Baverstock, 61, being cut out of Margaret’s estate with everything left to Lisa, resulting in a legal battle between the siblings. #news #crime #family
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