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Two nephews are secured a ₤ 400,000 will contest the fortune of a 'houseproud' widow, who disinherited one side of her family after they suggested she go into a care home.

Doreen Stock, 86, died childless in 2021 and left her whole estate to her nephew, Simon Stock, and his partner 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 launched a bid to inherit the lot himself - in spite of not going to or even talking to her over the phone since his transfer to the US eight years back.

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

The row emerged after his moms and dads suggested Ms Stock hang around in a care home while they took pleasure in a three-week vacation.

Fighting to reinstate the previous will, Mr Chiswick claims Ms Stock, who he says was a 'fixture in his childhood,' was too stricken by dementia to correctly understand what she was doing when she changed her testimony.

However, Simon and his better half are fighting the case, claiming Mr Chiswick - who has lived in the US since 2017 - had no 'significant relationship' with Ms Stock beyond his early years while Mr Stock had actually been 'the nearest thing to a son she had'.

Sitting at Central London County Court, Judge Jane Evans-Gordon heard that 'independent' and occasionally 'persistent' Ms Stock had a deep emotional attachment to her home in Charminster Road, Mottingham, having actually shared it with her hubby Samuel until his death in 2001.

Ben Chiswick, 39, visualized 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 whole estate to her nephew, Simon Stock (pictured), and his spouse 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 other half Brent.
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The estate principally consists of the Mottingham home, which is valued online at about ₤ 400,000.

The court heard Ms Stock had had a great relationship with the Chiswicks, who assisted her with her shopping and visited her routinely.

She even made an enduring power of attorney in their favour, but before she passed away withdrawed the document and altered her will, leaving whatever to a nephew on her hubby'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 stated the reality there was no discussion with his side of the family about the brand-new will recommended 'something not right' about her change of mind.

'Doreen and I had a really pleased relationship and she comprehended that leaving her estate to me would make a huge difference to my life,' he said in his .
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For Simon and Catherine, barrister James McKean told the court that Ms Stock had actually also been close to Simon, who was 'the nearby thing to a son she had,' contributing to his school fees as a child.

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

Patricia had then arranged for a 'capacity assessment' for her aunt, which the lawyer stated led to Ms Stock fearing her independence was being threatened and eventually altering her will.

The estate primarily includes the Mottingham house, which is valued online at about ₤ 400,000

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The court heard there had been 'building bitterness' with the method her power of lawyer 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 invest a period in domestic care.

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

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

Within weeks of the assessment, which resulted in a report specifying she 'lacked capability,' she had actually begun steps to revoke the power of attorney and make a brand-new will in Simon and Catherine's favour, he informed 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 a long time in a care home stank to her, wasn't it?

'From Doreen's viewpoint, this must have looked a genuine danger to her independence.'

But Patricia rejected distressing the pensioner, firmly insisting that the plan was just ever for a time-out in a care home while she and her spouse went on holiday.

'It was merely a tip because we don't generally disappear for 3 weeks at a time, and I believe she had been rather weak and her health was weakening in basic,' she stated.

'I was worried about leaving her and I thought it would be rather good if she could go someplace where she could be taken care of while we were away.

'It was absolutely stressed that it was for 3 weeks. There was no idea she was going to remain there forever.'

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

For Patricia's kid Mr Chiswick, who is the plaintiff in the event, barrister Simon Lane stated that, at the time she made the brand-new will, she was 'susceptible and was behaving out of character.'

The 2019 evaluation performed after the tip of a care home move had actually led to an expert's finding that she 'lacked capability,' he said.

But Mr McKean stated the assessment was deficient, with Ms Stock addressing with 'prickly hostility' when she was quizzed about things that made no sense to her, such as a fire which never ever actually happened.

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

'Doreen might have had some memory issues, but capacity and memory are various beasts,' he stated.

'The court will struggle to find any proof of impaired cognition or thinking. On the contrary, Doreen's behaviour, worths and reasoning were constant and plausible at all times.'

He said there was factor for her to decide to change her will, the last being made more than 30 years formerly, which by then Mr Chiswick - living and dealing with the opposite of the Atlantic - would have been 'far from her mind as a beneficiary.'

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

On the other hand, Mr Stock and his better half had been able to visit her regularly, living not far from her in Eltham, south London, he said.

'The court can be surprised neither by the making of the disputed will, nor by Doreen's option of beneficiaries,' he included.

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