Tuesday, December 03, 2024 - A barrister accused of forging his mother’s signature to cut his younger brother out of his inheritance has lost a court fight over the £1.2 million fortune in the UK.
Robert Grierson, 56, who specialises in tax and will
disputes, was sued by his 55-year-old brother Duncan, who was left with just
£10,000. Robert was given the rest of the estate.
The High Court heard that Elise Grierson, their mother,
dramatically changed her will 16 days after their father’s death in 2022,
having previously treated the brothers equally.
Robert claimed she had already signed a declaration of trust
in 2013, handing him a half share of her £1 million home in Sutton Coldfield,
West Midlands.
But he was sued by his brother at the High Court, with Judge
Joanne Wicks KC ruling that both the gift of half the house and the will were
invalid.
The judge said there was “compelling evidence” that Elise
had not signed the trust document herself, while the will was not properly
witnessed and was made at a time when Robert could not prove she was of sound
mind.
The judge made no findings as to whether Robert was
responsible for forgery because he had not been in court to defend himself.
During the trial, Judge Wicks heard that Elise and her
husband, also named Robert, had enjoyed a 60-year marriage, with their son
Robert living with them from 1999 and later operating his legal practice from
their home on an exclusive private estate.
Constance McDonnell KC, Duncan’s barrister, said the parents
treated their sons equally and had “worked extremely hard” to support them,
with both going on to study law at the University of Cambridge.
After her husband’s death in January 2022, Grierson suffered
an “acute grief reaction”, the barrister said. She also suffered depression and
a decline in her physical health, and died in hospital in March aged 84.
Duncan went to court to challenge the 2013 document on the
basis of forgery and the will on the basis that his mother was mentally
unsound, did not understand and properly approve of it, and that it was not
witnessed properly.
He said a previous will from 2020, dividing her estate
equally, was her last true will and that there was no reason for her to have
changed her mind in the two intervening years.
Ms. McDonnell said an expert had assessed the declaration of
trust and said the signature and initials of Elise on it were probably
“simulations”.
There was also evidence that an “indented tracing guideline”
had been followed to produce it, making it “highly probable” that it was not
signed by her.
Robert’s defence to the action was struck out following his
failure to disclose evidence earlier this year, with the judge then left to
decide the case on Duncan’s evidence alone.
Giving judgment, Judge Wicks said the expert evidence
provided “compelling evidence that Elise did not herself sign” the document
handing Robert half of the house.
“Duncan’s case is that Robert is the only person who could,
and would, have placed such simulated signatures on that document, and that he
did so in order to acquire by fraud an asset worth about £500,000,” said Ms
McDonnell.
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