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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 household after they suggested she enter into a care home.

Doreen Stock, 86, passed away childless in 2021 and left her whole estate to her nephew, Simon Stock, and his wife Catherine, who lived only a few minutes from her south London home.
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But her Michigan-based great-nephew, 39-year-old Ben Chiswick, has now introduced a bid to inherit the lot himself - despite not visiting and even speaking to her over the phone given that his relocation to the US 8 years ago.

Propulsion engineer Mr Chiswick had actually been because of inherit her fortune under a previous will composed practically 40 years back in 1986 when he was an infant, but was considerably 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 enjoyed a three-week holiday.

Fighting to restore the previous will, Mr Chiswick declares Ms Stock, who he says was a 'component in his childhood,' was too stricken by dementia to properly understand what she was doing when she altered her testimony.

However, Simon and his better half are battling the case, claiming Mr Chiswick - who has lived in the US because 2017 - had no 'meaningful relationship' with Ms Stock beyond his early years while Mr Stock had been 'the nearest thing to a kid 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 partner Samuel till his death in 2001.

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

Doreen Stock, 86, died childless in 2021 and left her entire estate to her nephew, Simon Stock (visualized), and his other half Catherine

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

The estate mainly 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 a lasting power of attorney in their favour, however before she passed away withdrawed the document and changed her will, leaving everything to a nephew on her other half's side.

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

And he stated the truth there was no discussion with his side of the family about the brand-new will recommended 'something not right' about her modification 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 evidence.

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

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 then set up for a 'capability evaluation' for her auntie, which the lawyer said led to Ms Stock fearing her independence was being threatened and eventually altering her will.

The estate mainly includes the Mottingham home, which is valued online at about ₤ 400,000

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

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

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

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

Quizzing Patricia Chiswick in the witness box, he added: 'Doreen loved 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 offensive to her, wasn't it?

'From Doreen's perspective, this must have looked a real danger to her self-reliance.'

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

'It was simply a recommendation since we don't typically disappear for three weeks at a time, and I believe she had actually been quite unwell and her health was degrading in general,' she said.

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

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

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

For Patricia's son Mr Chiswick, who is the plaintiff in the event, lawyer Simon Lane said that, at the time she made the brand-new will, she was 'susceptible and was acting out of character.'

The 2019 assessment carried out after the idea of a care home move had led to a specialist's finding that she 'lacked capacity,' he said.

But Mr McKean said the evaluation wanted, 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 occurred.

Other evaluations around the same time had led to findings that she did have capability, although she was experiencing 'mild' dementia,' he stated.

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

'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 said there was reason for her to choose to change her will, the last being made more than thirty years formerly, and that already Mr Chiswick - living and dealing with the other side of the Atlantic - would have been 'far from her mind as a recipient.'

He had actually not seen her again and even spoken on the phone after relocating to the US, while the majority of the evidence of their relationship came from when he was a child.

On the other hand, Mr Stock and his wife had been able to visit her routinely, 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 added.

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