09 October 2023 , 17:31
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Three siblings who were mistakenly disinherited by their "illiterate" dad who couldn't understand his own will have won their court battle for a share of his £700,000 fortune.
Hope Dillon, 65, Leonard Grizzle, 64, and Jo-Ann Morris, 62, claimed their dad, Kenneth Grizzle, always struggled with reading and even dictated Christmas cards. Despite having five children with two women, his estate and East London home went to his second partner, Theodora Richefond, leaving his three eldest with nothing.
But the siblings sued, claiming their dad must have disinherited them by mistake as he always intended that their former family home in east London would be theirs. Now a High Court judge has ruled in their favour, finding that their dad could not have understood he was cutting them out when he made the will in 2013.
Deputy Master Katherine MacQuail said that although Mr Grizzle's literacy had improved over the years, he couldn't have understood the effect of the will he signed on his own. She ordered that one clause of the will be torn up, resulting in the Grizzle trio each getting a £110,000 share of the Forest Gate home, as they will share it with half-siblings Lee and Kym Richefond.
Mr Grizzle, who died in 2019 aged 83, had Lee and Kym with Mrs Richefond, and also brought up her son Gary from a previous relationship, living at a house they bought in East Ham in 1992, while still owning the Forest Gate home. His 2013 will handed Gary, Lee and Kym his share of the East Ham home, but granted Ms Richefond the right to stay there for the rest of her life.
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Ms Richefond was to get the rest of his estate, which - because Ena crucially went on to die before him - included the Grizzle children's family home in Forest Gate. Challenging the will, the Grizzle children said their dad had always wanted them to ultimately have the Forest Gate house.
They believed that was the effect of his will, but was mistaken because he could not read well enough to understand its terms, they claimed. The court heard there was no evidence proving that Mr Grizzle could read and write, and therefore understand the terms of his will. Despite 500 pages of documents, not one showed his handwriting, barrister Adrian Carr said.
His illiteracy meant he could not have read the 2013 will and understood that he might be disinheriting his three eldest children if Ena died before him. Jo-Ann Morris told the judge "it was always clear in our family" the Forest Gate home would one day be theirs.
Mr Carr said the deceased "was not concerned" because he always believed the Forest Gate home would pass to Ena and then to the Grizzle children. Ultimately, Ena sadly died first, meaning the home passed to Mr Grizzle under survivorship rules, and then to Mrs Richefond.
Mrs Richefond's barrister Julia Beer insisted that, by the time he made the will, Mr Grizzle could read, with a judge showed test messages he had sent. Ms Beer also said that the illiteracy allegation had been "born out of disappointment" on the part of the Grizzles.
Ruling on the case, the judge said Mr Grizzle had been a "proud" man with a "sharp mind and a good memory." His literacy had probably improved over the years and he would have developed coping strategies to help him get by. "Nothing I have heard enables me to conclude that Kenneth would, without assistance from somebody who understood the document themselves, be able to fully understand the will and its legal consequences," Judge McQuail said.
"On the occasion he signed his will, Kenneth did not understand what he was doing and its effect." She rule the clause in his will leaving the residue of his estate as invalid, meaning the house would have to be shared five ways between the three Grizzle children, plus Lee and Kym. Theodora meanwhile remains entitled to stay at the other house for life.