Home / Crime and Justice / £600k Fortune Vanishes After Bitter Sibling Lawsuit
£600k Fortune Vanishes After Bitter Sibling Lawsuit
26 Jan
Summary
- A daughter lost nearly her entire £600,000 inheritance after a court ruled against her.
- The court upheld a previous will, splitting the estate equally among three siblings.
- The losing heir must pay over £400,000 in legal costs to her sister.
A High Court ruling has left a woman with virtually nothing from her father's £600,000 estate. In October 2021, Laxmikant Patel died at age 85, leaving a will two months prior that gifted his entire £600,000 home to his daughter, Anju Patel, while her siblings received only £250 each. This starkly contrasted with a 2019 will that proposed an equal split.
His younger sister, Bhavenetta Stewart-Brown, contested the 2021 will, citing suspicions due to their father's terminal illness and COVID-19 hospital restrictions at the time. Deputy Master Jason Raeburn ruled in favor of Ms. Stewart-Brown, upholding the 2019 will due to the highly suspicious circumstances surrounding the later document's execution.
Consequently, Ms. Patel has lost almost two-thirds of her inheritance and must now pay her sister's court costs, estimated to exceed £400,000, plus her own legal expenses. The executor of the 2021 will is also jointly liable for these costs. An attempt to appeal the decision was refused.
