Barrister accused of faking late mother’s signature in row with brother over £1.2m inheritance
A barrister has been ordered to pay £200,000 in legal costs after being accused of forging his late mother’s signature in an inheritance dispute with his younger brother.
Robert Grierson, 56, who specialises in tax and will disputes, allegedly faked documents to secure a larger share of his mother’s £1.2million estate.
The High Court heard that Elise Grierson had previously treated her sons equally, before a contentious will emerged just weeks before her death in 2022 that left his brother Duncan with only £10,000.
Robert Grierson insisted his mother had signed a declaration of trust in 2013, giving him half of her £1m home in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham.
He later produced a will from 2022, made just 16 days after his father’s death, which left almost the entire estate to him. The document was a dramatic departure from a 2020 will that had divided the estate equally between the brothers.
Robert lived with his parents for more than 20 years and operated his legal practice from their home. Both brothers studied law at Cambridge University, with their parents working “extremely hard” to support them equally, the court heard.
While Robert went on to practice as a barrister at Lincoln’s Inn and later in the Cayman Islands, Duncan pursued a career in eco-investing.
The family dispute emerged after their father died in January 2022 in tragic circumstances, with Duncan and his family finding him unconscious in “squalid” conditions.
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Judge Wicks ordered Robert to pay his brother’s £200,000 legal costs, criticising him for pursuing a case with “no reasonable prospect” of winning.
The judge noted that Duncan had offered to settle the case before trial, which would have given Robert an extra £20,000 from the estate.
“Robert should have accepted the offer rather than requiring this matter to be taken to trial,” Judge Wicks said.
The ruling means the 2020 will, which splits Grierson’s fortune equally between the brothers, now stands as her final will.