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

Doreen Stock, 86, passed away 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 quote to inherit the lot himself - in spite of not visiting or even talking with her over the phone because his transfer to the US eight years ago.

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

The row erupted after his moms and dads suggested Ms Stock hang out 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 youth,' was too stricken by dementia to appropriately understand what she was doing when she changed her testimony.

However, Simon and his wife are battling the case, declaring Mr Chiswick - who has resided in the US considering that 2017 - had no 'meaningful relationship' with Ms Stock beyond his early years while Mr Stock had been 'the nearby thing to a boy she had'.

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

Ben Chiswick, 39, envisioned 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 (pictured), and his other half Catherine

Without any kids of her own, Ms Stock's first will, made in 1986, left her estate to Mr Chiswick, boy of her niece Patricia Chiswick and other half Brent.

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

The court heard Ms Stock had had an excellent 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 passed away withdrawed the document and altered her will, leaving everything to a nephew on her husband's side.

Challenging the will, Mr Chiswick claims that his great-aunt's dementia in her final years means there is severe doubt whether she had the required capability to make the modifications.

And he said the fact there was no conversation with his side of the household about the new will suggested '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 evidence.
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For Simon and Catherine, lawyer James McKean told the court that Ms Stock had actually also been close to Simon, who was 'the nearest thing to a child she had,' contributing to his school charges as a kid.
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And although she formerly had a close relationship with Mr Chiswick's moms and dads, that was ruined when they suggested she enter into a care home in 2019.

Patricia had actually then set up for a 'capability assessment' for her aunt, which the barrister said led to Ms Stock fearing her independence was being threatened and eventually altering her will.

The estate principally contains the Mottingham house, which is valued online at about ₤ 400,000

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The court heard there had been 'structure bitterness' with the way her power of attorney was being administered, which 'finally boiled over in the summer season of 2019 when the made an ill-judged - though perhaps well-intentioned - tip to Doreen that she spend a duration in domestic care.

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

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

Within weeks of the assessment, which resulted in a report specifying she 'did not have capacity,' she had actually begun actions to withdraw 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 included: 'Doreen enjoyed her home and it had actually 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 spend some time in a care home was offending to her, wasn't it?

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

But Patricia rejected disturbing the pensioner, insisting that the strategy was just ever for a time-out in a care home while she and her husband went on vacation.

'It was just a tip because we don't typically go away for three weeks at a time, and I believe she had been rather unhealthy and her health was deteriorating in general,' she stated.

'I was concerned about leaving her and I thought it would be rather good if she might go someplace where she could be looked after while we were away.

'It was absolutely stressed out that it was for three weeks. There was no recommendation she was going to stay there forever.'

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

For Patricia's kid Mr Chiswick, who is the claimant in the case, lawyer Simon Lane said that, at the time she made the new will, she was 'susceptible and was acting out of character.'

The 2019 assessment carried out after the tip of a care home relocation had actually resulted in an expert's finding that she 'lacked capacity,' he stated.

But Mr McKean stated the evaluation wanted, with Ms Stock answering with 'prickly hostility' when she was quizzed about things that made no sense to her, such as a fire which never ever actually took place.

Other assessments around the same time had led to findings that she did have capability, although she was suffering with 'moderate' dementia,' he said.

'Doreen might have had some memory issues, however capacity and memory are various monsters,' he said.

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

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

He had not seen her once again or perhaps spoken on the phone after moving to the US, while the majority of the evidence of their relationship originated from when he was a child.

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

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

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