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Two nephews are locked in a ₤ 400,000 will contest the fortune of a 'houseproud' widow, who disinherited one side of her family after they recommended 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 spouse 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 acquire the lot himself - regardless of not visiting or perhaps speaking with her over the phone because his relocate to the US eight years ago.

Propulsion engineer Mr Chiswick had actually been due to acquire her fortune under a previous will composed practically 40 years earlier in 1986 when he was an infant, however was drastically disinherited by his great-aunt a year before her death.

The row appeared after his parents suggested Ms Stock spend time in a care home while they delighted in a three-week vacation.

Fighting to reinstate the previous will, Mr Chiswick declares Ms Stock, who he says was a 'fixture in his childhood,' was too stricken by dementia to properly comprehend what she was doing when she altered her testament.
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However, Simon and his partner are fighting the case, claiming Mr Chiswick - who has actually resided in the US since 2017 - had no 'meaningful relationship' with Ms Stock beyond his early years while Mr Stock had been 'the nearest thing to a child 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 spouse Samuel up until his death in 2001.

Ben Chiswick, 39, imagined right with father 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 entire estate to her nephew, Simon Stock (visualized), and his better half Catherine

With no children of her own, Ms Stock's very first will, made in 1986, left her estate to Mr Chiswick, son of her niece Patricia Chiswick and spouse Brent.

The estate mainly 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 frequently.

She even made an enduring power of attorney in their favour, however before she died withdrawed the file and altered her will, leaving whatever to a nephew on her other half's side.

Challenging the will, Mr Chiswick claims that his great-aunt's dementia in her last years suggests there is serious doubt whether she had the needed capacity to make the modifications.

And he said the truth there was no conversation with his side of the household about the brand-new will recommended '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 a massive distinction to my life,' he said in his proof.

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

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

Patricia had actually then scheduled a 'capability assessment' for her auntie, which the lawyer said caused Ms Stock fearing her self-reliance was being threatened and eventually changing her will.

The estate mainly includes the Mottingham house, which is at about ₤ 400,000

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The court heard there had been 'building animosity' with the method her power of lawyer was being administered, which 'lastly boiled over in the summertime of 2019 when the Chiswicks made an ill-judged - though possibly well-intentioned - suggestion to Doreen that she spend a period in domestic care.

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

'No doubt Doreen was fretted about the possibility of going into a home, then was asked to go through the capacity assessment, and put two and 2 together.'

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

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

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

'From Doreen's point of view, this need to have looked a genuine threat to her independence.'

But Patricia denied upsetting the pensioner, firmly insisting that the plan was only ever for a short break in a care home while she and her other half went on holiday.

'It was just a tip since we don't usually go away for three weeks at a time, and I believe she had been quite unwell and her health was weakening in general,' she stated.

'I was concerned about leaving her and I believed it would be quite great if she might go someplace where she might be taken care of while we were away.

'It was absolutely stressed out that it was for 3 weeks. There was no idea she was going to stay there indefinitely.'

The Chiswicks did not check out Ms Stock once again between the capability assessment in 2019 and her death in May 2021.

For Patricia's son Mr Chiswick, who is the plaintiff in the case, barrister Simon Lane said that, at the time she made the new will, she was 'susceptible and was behaving out of character.'

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

But Mr McKean stated the evaluation was lacking, 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 really took place.

Other assessments around the exact same time had actually resulted in findings that she did have capacity, although she was experiencing 'moderate' dementia,' he stated.

'Doreen might have had some memory problems, 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, worths and reasoning corresponded and plausible at all times.'

He stated there was reason for her to choose to alter her will, the last being made more than 30 years previously, which already Mr Chiswick - living and working on the other side of the Atlantic - would have been 'far from her mind as a recipient.'

He had not seen her once again or even spoken on the phone after moving to the US, while most of the evidence of their relationship came from when he was a kid.

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

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