A High Court judge has branded a father's final will "highly suspicious" and overturned it, after it left his younger daughter a token sum of just £250 while her older sister inherited his £600,000 home.
A Drastic Change of Heart
The bitter family dispute centred on the estate of Laxmikant Patel, who died in October 2021 at the age of 85. In a will made just two months before his death in August 2021, he bequeathed his house in Harrow, valued at £600,000, entirely to his eldest daughter, Anju Patel, 58. His other two children, son Piyush Patel, 62, and younger daughter Bhavenetta Stewart-Brown, 52, were each left only £250.
This document represented a dramatic shift from his previous wishes. A 2019 will had provided for a far more equal distribution, leaving £50,000 to Anju with the remainder of the estate split into 33% shares for each child and 1% for a charitable trust.
Allegations of Isolation and a 'Cloud of Suspicion'
Bhavenetta Stewart-Brown took the case to London's High Court, arguing that a "cloud of suspicion" hung over the creation of the 2021 will. Her legal team contended that her father, who was terminally ill, frail, and in hospital under Covid restrictions at the time, had been isolated and controlled by Anju in his final years.
They claimed Anju, a Hare Krishna follower, had distanced her devoutly Swaminarayan father from his lifelong faith. Barrister Tim Sherwin described the decision to leave the entire house to one child as "most odd", pointing to a "clear pattern of isolation and control".
Anju defended the will, stating her father had grown to mistrust his younger children, believing "they were only after his property". She claimed he viewed Piyush as "hugely controlling" and complained of Bhavenetta's "bad temper" and of her taking "massive advantage" of him.
Judge Cites Flawed Execution and Suspicious Circumstances
After hearing the evidence, Deputy Master Jason Raeburn ruled in Bhavenetta's favour, upholding the 2019 will and invalidating the 2021 version. He found the hospital-bed will was fundamentally flawed on several grounds.
The judge declared there was "no due execution of the will", as there was no evidence that the witnesses and Mr. Patel all signed the document at the same time using the same pen, despite witness claims to the contrary.
He also highlighted the "highly suspicious" circumstances. Mr. Patel was seriously ill with terminal cancer and did not wait until he was discharged from Northwick Hospital to make the new will. The judge noted the instructions were given to Vijaykant Patel, a Hare Krishna temple acquaintance of Anju's who claimed to be a friend of her father.
The court heard that Laxmikant Patel had built a new life in the UK after migrating from Uganda in the early 1970s, working at the Ford plant in Dagenham while his wife ran a newsagent's. He and his wife had donated approximately £180,000 to their temple throughout their lives.
This ruling reinstates the terms of the 2019 will, ensuring a significantly more equitable distribution of the £600,000 estate among the three siblings.
