Inheritance row erupts in court after son wins battle against sister over being pushed out of mother’s £700k will

A son has won a High Court battle against his sister who was caught on video guiding their dementia-suffering mother’s hand to sign a will.

John Baverstock, 61, was left nothing in his mother Margaret’s £700,000 estate after a new will was created just eight days before her death.

His sister Lisa, 55, claimed their mother didn’t want him to inherit anything.

The court ruled the will invalid, forcing Lisa to split the inheritance with her brother and pay his legal costs.

The video evidence proved crucial in the case. It showed Lisa reading the will to her mother, who appeared ill and unresponsive.

Lisa then placed a pen in her mother’s hand and guided her to sign the document.

Judge Jane Evans-Gordon said she was satisfied that Margaret “had no idea what was going on” at the time.

“I didn’t think she was capable of this,” Baverstock said. “Clearly Lisa had done it to cover her tracks and make it look legal.”

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John Baverstock had always been close to his mother Margaret, describing their relationship as “loving and caring”.

From childhood memories of her helping with homework to nights they went disco dancing together in the nineties at Crystal Palace, the bond was strong.

“We never used to go on holidays but we’d go out disco dancing together at Crystal Palace, me and Mum and her friends,” he said.

Baverstock, an electrician, would regularly visit his mother, doing online shopping and household repairs for her.

The relationship between the siblings soured in February 2021 over what John believed was a misunderstanding about a property sales document. Lisa accused him of trying to sell their mother’s home and demanded he return his keys.

After Margaret died in March 2021, Lisa told John: “Mum said I could have the house for looking after her.”

Lisa claimed in court that she had given up everything to care for Margaret, alleging her brother “could not be bothered” and that she “cried on the phone to come down and give me respite.”

With no other known will in existence, Margaret was deemed to have died intestate, meaning her £700,000 assets must be split equally between brother and sister.

Baverstock was baffled by his sister’s claims that their mother didn’t want him to inherit anything.

He recalled spending many weeknights “happily catching up with his mother in front of EastEnders and Coronation Street during the last years of her life”.

The family dispute has left him feeling he has lost not just his mother, but his sister as well.

Lisa must also pay John’s legal costs, estimated at up to £80,000.

Solicitors estimate as many as 10,000 wills are disputed each year in the UK.

While the vast majority settle before trial, the number of contested cases increases annually.

Only about 200 end up in front of judges, though this figure has been rising.

The most common disputes are between siblings.

Mark Jones, of 3DJB Chambers, Mr Baverstock’s barrister, said the case “reinforces the protection the law provides both to vulnerable, ill and elderly people, and to those with whom they might have wished to share their assets”.

“What made the case extraordinary was the video evidence,” said Jones.