TWO brothers are locked in a bitter battle with their mum after their grandmother cut them out of her £2.65m will despite promising them “at Sunday lunch”, a court heard.
John Maile, 37, went to court alongside older brother, Steven Maile, 40, after their grandma Mary Stevens, left 170-acre West Hook Farm near Okehampton, Devon, to her two daughters.
Champion News ServiceMum Ruth Maile who was involved in court dispute over West Hook Farm[/caption]
Champion News ServiceSteven Maile, 40, launched legal action alongside his brother and mother after being cut out of his grandmother’s will[/caption]
Champion News ServiceJohn Maile, who was said to have recorded conversation with his grandmother, a court heard[/caption]
The multi-million-pound mixed arable and dairy farm, was eventually left to the brothers’ mum Ruth Maile 73, and aunt Sheila Kempthorne, 69.
But the court heard how the brothers claimed Mary, who died aged 96 in 2020, had even promised them over Sunday lunch: “One day this will all be yours”.
On the basis of the promises, John and Steven had worked long hours on the farm for little more than “pocket money,” the pair claimed.
A 2011 amendment to Mary’s previous will had left the siblings equal shares of West Hook Farm.
But she again changed her mind in 2016 and left it to their mother, Ruth, and their aunt, Sheila, although the brothers got to keep the livestock.
Suing, they claimed that “undue influence” was used by Sheila on their grandmother and that she cooked up a “cunning plan with her mother’s solicitor to force the deceased into leaving the farm to her daughters,” the court heard.
They also alleged that Mary lacked “testamentary capacity” and that there was a lack of “knowledge and approval” on her part.
Although she was set to be a major beneficiary, Ruth ended up siding with her sons against her sister Sheila in a bid to overturn Mary’s 2016 codicil, the document amending her will and all but disinheriting her grandsons.
But Mr Justice Green at the High Court in Bristol has now thrown out the brothers’ case, noting John Maile’s “scheming” and “intimidating” behaviour during the family strife.
The court heard West Hook Farm was acquired by the family nearly 100 years ago and has been farmed by them ever since.
Its lucrative pastures, arable fields, six-bed farmhouse, holiday cottages and outbuildings make it worth around £2.65m.
John, Steven and their mum, Ruth, have worked the land as part of an existing farming partnership set up by their grandmother.
And they also run a partnership with their dad, Peter Maile, at neighbouring property, Agistment Farm, which takes up most of their time and effort.
Their gran, Mary, strove to keep the farm in the family, deciding to leave John and Steven equal shares in 2011, but five years later, she changed her mind again as she wished to be “fairer to Sheila’s side of the family.”
It meant her two grandsons were cut out from inheriting the farm, leading to them taking the case to court in a bid to overturn the 2016 codicil which cut them out and reinstate an earlier 2011 amendment which left the farm to them.
Mr Justice Green said the case was “largely pressed by John, probably together with his mother”, adding – “he is very determined to get what he believes is rightfully his and his brother’s”.
When he learned that Mary had cut him out from inheriting the farm, John even began secretly taping conversations with her, although he “claimed not to remember the reason why”.
Steven Maile was, by contrast, more “reserved”, said the judge, and seemed “more prepared to accept if his grandmother decided to be fair to both sides of the family and ultimately opted to leave everything to her daughters equally”.
After 2016, Mary did not reinstate her grandsons as heirs to her farm, despite what the judge termed “pressure being applied from the Maile family”.
The judge added: “Apart from the meeting on 2 June 2016, John seems to have started to record after he had begun to converse with his grandmother, perhaps when he thought she might say something useful.”
Supplied by Champion NewsThe cottages at West Hook Farm[/caption]
Aunt Sheila Kempthorne, who was involved in the court disputeChampion News Service
Supplied by Champion NewsThe multi-million pound farm near Okehampton, Devon[/caption]
John, Steven and their mum testified that Mary had told them, “I think I’ve done something I should not have done” in relation to cutting out her grandsons, and that she consistently talked about wanting to change her will in their favour again.
But the judge said it was clear that Mary had simply stuck to her guns despite pressure from John, although she may have said things simply to “placate” him.
“She never did try to change her will back so as to leave the farm to the claimants,” the judge observed.
“John’s displeasure at the removal of the gift of the farm to him and his brother is palpable and I believe was felt by the deceased. She was already sensitive to John’s unhappiness with the situation, but I think she knew what she was doing.
“She was saying things to placate her grandson, but had no intention of changing her mind.”
Commenting on John’s character, he told the court: “I could see that his persistence could be somewhat intimidating, certainly for a person like his grandmother in her 90s.
“It appears from his secretly recorded conversations, which I have listened to, that he was quite prepared to let his grandmother know that he was upset that she had decided not to leave the farm to him and his brother, and there is a hectoring tone to what he was saying to her.
“He did not raise his voice – he knew he was recording the conversation – but he was clearly pushing her to say something that he knew she would say and which he therefore wanted recorded.
“That is quite scheming of him. And that appears to be part of his nature.”
‘SCHEMING NATURE’
John claimed his grandmother had promised him and his brother West Hook when they were teenagers, recalling one occasion when she had done so while showing him the property’s original 1927 auction documents.
The promises were repeated several times around the table during the family’s Sunday lunch, he insisted.
The judge also dismissed claims that they had worked for a pittance, commenting: “It was quite misleading of them to have said that they only received very small amounts of pocket money.
“It emerged from the oral evidence that the claimants had quite substantial savings, most of which were put into the Maile partnership.”
The brothers also accused their aunt, Sheila, “secretly arranged” for Mary to meet up with the family’s lawyer in February 2016 to get the two siblings written out of their inheritance.
The judge told the court: “I do not detect that there was some cunning plan by Sheila, even less so by [Mary’s solicitor], to persuade the deceased to move away from the 2011 codicil.
“In summary, I find that there were no clear and unequivocal representations or assurances that the deceased would be leaving the farm to the claimants in her will.”
The judge rejected John and Steven’s challenge to the 2016 will codicil and ordered them, their mother and dad Peter Maile to give up possession of West Hook Farm to Sheila as executrix of Mary’s estate.
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