Waiting for an inheritance
Whitebrook Wills - Wednesday, November 12, 2014
An unemployed woman who allegedly made no attempt to find a job because she was waiting for her mother to die is battling her brother in court over the inheritance. Christine Watts, who claims benefits, has "done nothing to get a job" since 2005 because she expected to be rescued by a share of her mother's £200,000 estate, the High Court heard.
Miss Watts says she has back problems and psychological issues which make it impossible for her to work and that made her "dependent" on her late mother, despite being an adult.
However, the 47-year-old from Eastbourne, East Sussex, was written out of the will of her mother, Valerie Watts, who changed the paperwork on her deathbed, leaving her house and all her savings to her son Gary, 44.
Miss Watts is now challenging the validity of the will, dated January 2011, arguing that it must have been forged or was not properly executed, while claiming she is entitled to "reasonable provision" from her mother's estate.
She is now locked in a legal dispute with her brother as they fight over their mother's home in Dartford in Kent, and the savings that she left behind when she died aged 71 after signing her will in hospital during her final illness.
Mr Watt believes he deserves every penny of his inheritance for the years he spent caring for his mother, but his sister is fighting to convince Judge Catherine Newman QC that she is due a fair share.
Explaining why Valerie Watts had cut his sister out of her will, Gary Watts said: "She was extremely disappointed with the conduct of my sister. She said basically she wanted to change the will.”
Miss Watts insisted that she had enjoyed a close relationship with her mother, regularly visited her during the last part of her life and spoke to her daily on the telephone. Judge Newman reserved her decision on the case until a later date.
