A daughter who inherited virtually all of her father's £600,000 estate has been left facing a legal bill exceeding £400,000 after losing a bitter court battle with her younger sister, who was left just £250 in his final will.
Family Fortune Turns to Financial Ruin
Anju Patel, 58, has gone from inheriting almost all her father Laxmikant Patel's £600,000 fortune under his 2021 will to being left with nothing after being defeated in court by her younger sister Bhavenetta Stewart-Brown, 52. The dramatic reversal means Anju not only loses approximately two-thirds of her expected inheritance but must also pay her sister's substantial legal costs.
Suspicious Circumstances Surround Final Will
Laxmikant Patel, who died aged 85 in October 2021, had handed his £600,000 house in Cambridge Road, Harrow, to oldest daughter Anju in his last will - while leaving his younger daughter Bhavenetta and his son, Piyush Patel, 62, with just £250 each. The August 2021 will was made just two months before the elderly man's death, when he was terminally ill, frail and in a hospital subject to Covid restrictions.
Deputy Master Jason Raeburn ruled in favour of Bhavenetta last December, upholding a 2019 will splitting the £600,000 estate roughly three ways between the siblings, whilst declaring the circumstances of the 2021 will "highly suspicious".
Court Finds Will Execution Flawed
The judge found multiple problems with the 2021 will's execution. "Both witnesses said they used the same pen as the deceased, but it's plain from the face of the will that it wasn't signed by all the participating parties using the same pen," he explained. "I am not therefore satisfied that a signature was made by Laxmikant in the presence of all the witnesses at the same time, so there was no due execution of the will."
Furthermore, the judge concluded there was no compelling evidence that Laxmikant "knew and approved" of the 2021 will's contents, particularly given its drastic departure from previous even-handed wills.
Dramatic Change From Previous Wills
The court heard that Laxmikant's will of 2019 had left £50,000 to Anju, with the rest of the estate split in shares of 33 percent to each of the children and one percent to a charitable trust administered by Anju. This represented a continuation of his previous testamentary intentions, making the 2021 document's near-total disinheritance of two children particularly striking.
Allegations of Influence and Isolation
During the trial, Bhavenetta's barrister, Tim Sherwin, claimed that Anju - a Hare Krishna follower - had worked to distance her father from his accustomed Swaminarayan faith. "The evidence shows a clear pattern of isolation and control over the deceased on the part of Anju and her husband which became especially stark when he was in the hospital at the end of his life," he told the court.
Anju's legal team presented a different narrative, arguing that by October 2019 Laxmikant had formed a "sharply negative" view of both Piyush and Bhavenetta. They cited alleged comments to the will writer that Bhavenetta "has taken massive advantage of her father" while Anju remained "the only light in his life."
Substantial Costs Order Adds Insult to Injury
In a further hearing this week, the judge ordered that Anju and Vijaykant Patel, the executor of the 2021 will, are each jointly liable to pay Bhavenetta's costs of fighting the case. Mr Sherwin said these amounted to £380,000, with VAT to be added, taking the total bill to over £450,000 - almost twice what Anju was set to receive under the 2019 will.
The decision means that the approximately £250,000 which Anju is entitled to under the upheld 2019 testament will be completely wiped out by her costs of the case. She will also have to pay her own lawyers, though no figures for her own bill emerged during the hearing.
Appeal Permission Refused
James Kane, Anju's barrister, asked the judge for permission to appeal against his ruling on Anju's behalf, but this was refused. The judge also ordered an up-front payment on account of costs to be made of around £180,000 plus VAT.
Family Background and Legacy
The court heard that Laxmikant Patel was a gentle and hard-working man who had carved out a new life for his family after migrating from Uganda in the early 1970s. He worked shifts at the Ford motor plant in Dagenham while his wife, Shardaben, ran a newsagent's.
A devoutly religious man, Laxmikant attended the Swaminarayan temple in Neasden, north London, every day and he and his wife donated around £180,000 to the temple throughout their lives. This religious devotion formed part of the context for allegations about attempts to influence his faith in his final months.
The judge's final ruling reinstates Laxmikant's 2019 will, leaving his three children sharing his fortune on roughly equal terms - but with Anju facing financial devastation from the legal costs of the failed challenge.
