Vicious family war over inheritance of an academic’s £800000 Grade II listed …

Posted on by Listify Me

  • William Taylor invited his nephew and his family to live with him after the theft in 2001
  • They claim he promised to leave them his farmhouse in return for them uprooting from Sheffield
  • But William Taylor claims that wasn’t true and now a judge’s decision to grant the nephew the house is being appealed

By
Emily Allen


PUBLISHED:

13:38 GMT, 19 July 2012


|

UPDATED:

15:59 GMT, 19 July 2012

A vicious family row over an £800,000 listed farmhouse was started when a retired academic invited his nephew’s family to live with him after his prized lawnmower was stolen, a court has heard.

Art historian, William ‘Bill’ Taylor, lived with his wife Audrey at Lower Manaton Farm, a grade II listed long house, in Callington, Cornwall, until he was widowed.

But shaken by the theft of his Etesia lawnmower after his wife’s death, he realised it was not good to be alone and invited his nephew, Roger Taylor, his partner, Denise Burkinshaw, and their children to move down from their Sheffield home to look after him, in 2001.

Row: Roger Taylor, left, his partner, Denise Burkinshaw, right, and
their children to move down from their Sheffield home to look after William ‘Bill’ Taylor in 2001 and claim he said they could have the house

The couple set up home in the farmhouse’s east wing, while Mr Taylor stayed in the west. But as dispute began when his nephew and his family were adamant that Mr Taylor had promised to leave them his home in return for uprooting themselves from Sheffield. 

Appeal: Executors of Mr Taylor’s estate, including his niece Gabrielle Bradbury
and her husband Peter (pictured) claim the judge made the wrong decision

But the pensioner, who died in his 90s in 2010, claimed that the only deal he ever struck with the couple was that they
could live in the house rent free if they contributed towards the
bills. To the day he died, he insisted he would be entirely within his
rights to throw them out.

In August last year, Judge Jeremy Griggs accepted the couple’s plea and awarded them the whole of Lower Manaton Farm.

However, three judges are now reviewing his judgement at the Court of Appeal after the executors of Mr Taylor’s estate, including his niece Gabrielle Bradbury
and her husband Peter, claim he was
too generous to Roger Taylor and Miss Burkinshaw.

Leslie Blohm QC, representing the executors
said there was no firm evidence that the pensioner had ever promised his
home to the couple and, even if he had, the award of the entire
property to them was ‘an obviously disproportionate result’.

The house made up the vast bulk of Mr
Taylor’s estate – valued in total at over £1million – and the judge’s ruling
meant that charities, to whom the pensioner had wanted to leave
£650,000, his great-granddaughter, Isobel Constantine, and his niece and
her husband all lost out.

Under his final will, signed in 2009, Mr Taylor had left £650,000 – more than half his estate – to various charities.

He
directed that the rest of his his estate be split into 100 equal parts,
with 55 of them going to his great granddaughter, Ms Constantine, 15 of
them to Mr and Mrs Bradbury and the remaining 30 to Roger Taylor and
his wife – but only on condition that they moved out of the house within
six months of his death.

Mower: Mr Taylor was left shaken by the theft of his Etesia lawnmower (file picture of a simliar lawnmower) after his wife’s death so asked his nephew and his family to move into the house

Dispute: Art historian, William ‘Bill’ Taylor,
lived with his wife Audrey at the £800,000 Lower Manaton Farm, (pictured) a grade II listed long
house, in Callington, Cornwall, until he was widowed

Mr Blohm said the relationship between Bill Taylor and his nephew was
‘not easy’ even before the widower decided to share his home.

Mr
Taylor had in the past ‘bankrupted’ his nephew over an unrepaid loan and
the evidence was that he regarded the younger man as ‘a spendthrift,
ostentatious and a risky proposition’.

Picture shows a self portrait with his wife by the late artist and academic William Taylor who died in 2010

Mr
Blohm said trouble brewed in 2009 when the couple discovered Mr Taylor
had no intention of leaving them the house. They went to court, claiming
he had promised it to them, although he ‘vehemently denied’ ever having
done anything of the sort.

Mr
Taylor even sought a court injunction against the couple, seeking exclusive
access for himself and his carers to guest rooms and the house’s laundry
room through his own front door.

Had
Mr Taylor’s will held sway, there would have been no inheritance tax
liability on his estate. But Mr Blohm said Judge Griggs’ ruling saddled
the estate with a tax bill for almost £160,000.

The
QC added that, when Mr Taylor was alive, he had been ‘consistently
cautious’ about giving any absolute assurances to the couple and he was
adamant that he had never promised them Lower
Manaton Farm.

In August last year, Judge Griggs
accepted Denise Burkinshaw’s account that she had only reluctantly
agreed to abandon Sheffield for Cornwall and would never have done so
had Mr Taylor not assured her that she and her husband would inherit the
house.

The couple had
helped the old man empty his bins, get his car in and out of his garage
and to put his laundry into the washing machine and, although that ‘did
not amount to a great deal’, the judge said it sealed the ‘bargain’ they
had reached with Mr Taylor.

Lords Justice Lloyd, Richards and Elias have now reserved their judgment on the executors’ appeal.

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
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a will is a will and should be executed as such …

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So, not only did his will specify the house was not to go to Mr. Taylor, but also his testimony in court, yet the judge went against both of these and awarded the house to Mr. Taylor anyway? How can that judgement not be flawed?

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To say that bin duty and running a washer is equivalent to a grace and favour property is an exceptional ruling. In any case to have obtained free lodgings for “X” years and up to £100,000 in cash for the same services, what many people do for free for their elderly next door neighbours, is still stretching it. Why did Judge Jeremy Griggs give no consideration to the wishes clearly expressed by the deceased before he left this world?

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