Daughter faked will by guiding dying mother’s hand, court rules

A 76-year-old woman with dementia “had no idea what was going on” when her daughter guided her hand to sign a will, a court has heard.

Margaret Baverstock was extremely unwell and in the last days of life when she supposedly signed the will in March 2021. It left her entire estate, including a property in Herne Hill, South London, to her daughter, Lisa.

Margaret’s son, John, however challenged the validity of the document. He claimed his sister, who had moved into their mother’s home to help care for her in 2019, had become increasingly resentful towards him as time progressed. This had culminated in February 2021 when the pair had argued about their mother’s £700,000 estate.

Key to John’s case was a video, submitted to the court by Lisa herself, that showed her guiding her mother’s hand to sign the document, while the older woman showed little sign of understanding what was happening.

The will itself was an off-the-shelf document, downloaded from the internet, which named Lisa as the sole beneficiary and executor.

Judge Jane Evans-Gordon told Central London County Court that the resultant signature “bore no resemblance” to a genuine signature from 2017. She added that Margaret did not understand or approve the contents of the will and therefore lacked “testamentary capacity”.

Judge Evans-Gordon said: “[Margaret] could not sign it herself because she was unable to hold the pen or move her hand to write her name. Lisa manipulated her hand and herself physically caused the deceased’s hand to move and make marks on the document.”

Lisa told the court she had made considerable sacrifices to look after her ailing mother, while her brother, from 2017 onwards, “could not be bothered”.

“As to the will, it was basically how my mother wanted her wishes done,” Lisa added. “She didn’t want my brother to inherit anything and made that perfectly clear to me over the course of the years.”

Without a valid will, Margaret was declared intestate. Her estate will now be split between the siblings with John’s legal costs to be paid by his sister.