In a dramatic twist that feels straight out of a courtroom drama, a woman has lost her claim to her mother’s entire fortune after footage revealed she physically forced her dying mother’s hand to sign a will.
Lisa Baverstock, 55, thought she had secured her mother Margaret’s entire £700,000 ($850,000) estate for herself, completely cutting her brother John out of the inheritance.
But her plan crumbled when video evidence showed what really happened at her mother’s deathbed.
The shocking footage revealed Lisa guiding her severely ill mother’s hand to sign a homemade will she had printed from the internet.
At the time, Margaret was so unwell she could barely respond beyond grunts and was just days from death.
Judge Jane Evans-Gordon didn’t mince words when she declared the will completely invalid after reviewing the evidence.
The ruling means Lisa must now split her mother’s assets 50/50 with her brother John – and pay his £80,000 legal fees on top of that.
A DIY Will Goes Terribly Wrong
Lisa’s scheme began with a template will she found and printed from the internet, naming herself as both the executor and sole beneficiary of her mother’s substantial estate, which included a house in the desirable Herne Hill area of south London.
The problem?
Her mother Margaret, who had been diagnosed with dementia in 2021, was essentially non-responsive on her deathbed when Lisa attempted to have her sign the document.
John Baverstock, 61, contested the will after being completely excluded from his mother’s estate.
He argued that the footage clearly showed the signing was “not the independent act of the deceased, but she was effectively forced by the physical actions of Lisa into participating in a pantomime of due execution of a document she did not comprehend.”
The Damning Video Evidence
The footage presented in court painted a disturbing picture of what really happened in Margaret’s final days.
According to barrister Mark Jones, who represented John, the video showed Lisa “repeatedly attempting to place a pen into her mother’s right hand” before finally wedging it between her fingers.
What happened next sealed Lisa’s fate in court.
The video showed Lisa placing “first her right hand and then her left hand over the deceased’s hand” before using “force and motion of her own left hand” to physically move her mother’s hand to make marks on the will.
Judge Evans-Gordon was unequivocal in her assessment: “She 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.”
“No Idea What Was Going On”
Perhaps most damning was the judge’s conclusion about Margaret’s mental state during the signing. “I am satisfied that the deceased had no idea what was going on,” she stated.
“She was unable to act independently and, although she responded with a ‘yeah’ or even a grunt when addressed as mum, that was simply a response to being directly addressed and didn’t indicate consent to signing the will or acknowledging its contents.”
The court noted that Margaret “looked completely blank during the reading of the will” and at no point did she ask for help signing or direct Lisa to sign on her behalf.
As the judge pointed out, no one took steps to ensure Margaret understood what was happening.
No one asked her questions about the will’s contents or asked her to express her wishes. “Merely reading out the document and asking if she understood it was not enough,” the judge concluded.
For Lisa, her attempt to secure the entire inheritance backfired spectacularly – not only must she now share the estate equally with her brother, but she’s also on the hook for his substantial legal expenses.
Editor’s Note: This article was based on court proceedings regarding the estate of Margaret Baverstock.