A builder who waged a six-year legal battle against his sister and brother-in-law over their mother's £5 million fortune has said she would be 'turning in her grave' at how they squandered his inheritance. Sandra Thomas and her husband Philip were ordered to repay £2.6 million after a judge ruled they acted out of 'greed' and misused over £1 million from their elderly mother's accounts.
The Family Fortune
The couple used Jeanne MacDougall's fortune as their 'personal piggy bank,' spending on exotic holidays, meals at The Ivy, cars, and a wedding for their daughter at the Savoy. Jeanne's eldest son, Gary MacDougall, will now receive around £1.6 million following the High Court battle between the estranged siblings.
Mr MacDougall had long assumed his mother's estate would be split equally between himself and his sister, but he ended up inheriting almost nothing. In a complicated financial arrangement, Mr MacDougall was due to receive property while his sister and her husband were to receive fewer properties and any cash left over. However, over the years leading up to Jeanne's death, the couple persuaded her to rewrite her will, leaving almost all properties and money to them.
Undue Influence
Judge Nicola Rushton KC ruled that acting out of 'greed,' Mrs Thomas and her husband misused more than £1 million of Jeanne's money in an 'extensive and wholesale' way, using her accounts 'as if they were their own.' The judge found that transfers of a £400,000 holiday home in Peacehaven and two flats in Ealing, worth about £1.2 million, were the result of their 'undue influence' on Jeanne.
Mr MacDougall said as his mother's health declined, she did not realise the significance of changing her will. While she sat in a care home, her credit card was used all over the world. He told the Daily Mail: 'Justice has been done. But my sister and I will never speak again. My parents would be turning in their graves seeing my sister and I fighting each other.'
Legal Battle
Mr MacDougall, who sold his plumbing and bathroom company to cover legal costs, said the case has taken a toll on his health and finances. He described the power of attorney abuse as 'phenomenal,' adding: 'My mum was in a care home and her debit card was being used all around the world.'
Under the 2011 will, the Thomases got the properties and cash. But Mr MacDougall's share will now be significantly swelled by the Peacehaven holiday home and Ealing flats, which Jeanne was 'unduly influenced' to sign over before she died. He will also inherit half of the money they took, thought to be more than £1 million.
Court Ruling
The judge found that the 2011 will was not tainted by undue influence or mental frailness, but the transfers of properties were. She said an account would have to be taken of the money spent by the couple to determine what they must pay to the estate as compensation, which would then be split with Mr MacDougall. The exact value of the estate has still to be calculated, but the Thomases will still get at least double the £1.3 million Gary is in line for under the upheld will.
