Woman Plunders Estate – Charity Gets Criticised

Shah v Forsters LLP is a professional negligence claim against solicitors in which the National Trust played no part and yet the Daily Express' headline 'Elderly dementia sufferer's fortune goes to National Trust even though he DESPISES them' is not untypical of the press coverage inviting antagonism towards charities which receive legacies.

The question is why.

Mrs Collins' executors sued Forsters LLP because her jointly owned assets passed to Mr Collins rather than passing under her Will. But, during the course of the trial, it became clear that Mrs Collins had improperly transferred hugely valuable shares, a major part of her husband's wealth, into her own name. Her husband, as the Daily Express headline indicates, suffers dementia. Mr Collins' will leaves his estate to the National Trust.

Interestingly the Judge appears to have made no direction to respect Mr Collins' privacy by anonymising any reporting (even though it is clear from the Judgment that leading counsel for the executors articulated concern about confidentiality).

Background

Mr Collins' 1990 Will left his share in the couple's London property (valued at £5 million in May 2015) to his wife outright, and his residuary estate, worth many millions, to her for life and thereafter to the National Trust.

He was first diagnosed with dementia at a relatively early age in 2003.

In 2005 the National Trust proposed building a bird hide at its Sherborne Estate in Gloucestershire, which neighboured the Collins' country residence (valued at circa £1 million). The Judge accepted the executors' evidence that Mr and Mrs Collins were strongly opposed to this proposal and that this gave rise to a 'deep rooted antipathy' towards the National Trust.

In 2007 Mr Collins' condition deteriorated. He executed an Enduring Power of Attorney in favour of Mrs Collins in July 2007.

It appears that around this time Mrs Collins' became aware of the terms of the 1990 Will. In September 2007 she and Mr Collins saw solicitors who concluded that he lacked capacity to make a new Will.

Mrs Collins therefore brought an application for a statutory Will. Quite properly that application was scrutinised. The Judgment records that Mrs Collins 'objected to the extent of the enquiries then being made of her, at the behest of the Official Solicitor'.

Mrs Collins withdrew the application. However the Judgment makes clear that, concurrent with the decision to withdraw the statutory Will application, Mrs Collins, with the...