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A contractor is taking legal action against his sister, claiming he was left with almost nothing from their mother’s £5 million estate. A court was told that she excluded him from the will due to embarrassment over his infidelity.

Gary MacDougall, 70, had anticipated that he and his family would divide the multi-million-dollar inheritance of his mother, Jeanne MacDougall, with his sister Sandra Thomas, 65, and her husband, Lloyd ‘Philip’ Thomas.

However, following a change in her will in 2011 and multiple property sales and gifts, Mr. MacDougall ended up with ‘nothing’ to inherit from his mother’s estate when she passed away in April 2020.

He is currently taking legal action at the High Court to invalidate his mother’s final will, and is also alleging that his sister and her husband have stolen £1.685 million from their mother’s funds while she was still alive.

He further asserts that the couple obtained a £1.7 million home through improper pressure, which was intended to be given to them when his mother lacked the mental capacity to do so, and this property had previously been promised to him.

However, this week, Mr MacDougall had to deny that his mother had valid reasons for cutting him off — such as her embarrassment over him cheating on his wife, Anna, with a local council employee.

The lawyers of his sister claimed that their mother, being part of an older and more conventional generation, felt ‘disappointed’ and ’embarrassed’ by her son, stood by his wife during his infidelity, and might have excluded him from the will after ‘reflecting’ on the affair.

However, presenting evidence, Mr. MacDougall denied that he was disinherited due to his acknowledged affair, informing a judge that his ‘sharp as a tack’ mother would have given him ‘both barrels’ if she were truly angry with him.

The wealth of the MacDougall family came from their property developer father Alec MacDougall’s “extensive real estate collection,” as Judge Nicola Rushton KC was informed.

Most of the development properties were acquired in the Acton and Ealing regions of west London, restored, and then leased, resulting in substantial earnings.

For Mr. MacDougall, attorney Harry Martin stated that over the years, it had been evident to the two siblings from their parents that they would eventually receive ‘approximately equal financial support and inheritance.’

This involved his father telling Mr MacDougall that he wouldn’t need a large pension fund, as he would inherit property to reside in during his retirement, according to the lawyer.

After their father passed away, the siblings’ mother created a will in 2008, according to Mr Martin, which represented a ‘generally fair’ division between her son and his family and her daughter and her husband.

Under that will, Mr. MacDougall and his family would inherit properties located on Avenue Crescent and Berrymead Gardens, while his sister and her husband received homes on Stuart Road and Avenue Gardens, along with the majority of the funds from her bank accounts.

However, a new will was created in 2011, stipulating that all four properties would be inherited by his sister and brother-in-law, while Mrs. Thomas would still receive the bulk of her savings.

Mr. MacDougall and Mrs. Thomas would divide the small remaining sum, but according to Mr. Martin, it is “likely to be worthless” due to the costs and expenses involved in estate administration.

Currently taking legal action, Mr. MacDougall, who previously collaborated with his mother in the family enterprise, asserts that the will is invalid because of the impact Mrs. Thomas and her spouse had on their mother, who by that point had ‘lost nearly all of her autonomy.’

He further asserts that the pensioner did not have the required mental ability because of her dementia at the time she executed the will, and she failed to fully comprehend its implications. This occurred when she was old and reliant on his sister and brother-in-law.

He is disputing the 2015 gift of the Avenue Crescent home to Mrs. Thomas and her husband, claiming it was promised to him and valued at £1.7 million, but argues that it was given when his mother lacked the mental capacity to make such a decision. His sister estimates its value at less than £1 million.

Mr. MacDougall is also asserting a claim to approximately £1.685 million from his mother’s estate, which he alleges was ‘misappropriated’ from her bank accounts prior to her passing andsquared away by his sister and brother-in-law for themselves and their family.

The funds were spent on dining at the Ivy, vacations, new vehicles, shopping excursions, their daughter’s wedding at the Savoy, and various other expenses, he mentions.

However, for the couple, who are now separated, Alexander Learmonth KC denied any improper influence from their side and the claim that their mother was unable to create a valid will, as there were no indications of issues beyond occasional forgetfulness.

He informed the judge that there were entirely reasonable explanations for why she had altered her will to benefit her daughter and son-in-law, who had taken care of her during her later years.

He said to the judge, “Like every person making a will, Jeanne had numerous motivations for creating a new will in the way she did.”

To some degree, determining their exact nature would be conjecture, and the court is not obligated to engage in such speculation. However, they certainly reflected an awareness of Gary’s prosperity and appreciation for the time and attention Philip and Sandra provided her.

They might have also experienced increasing frustration towards Gary, whether it was due to his marital unfaithfulness, harsh remarks at work, rare visits, or other issues.

It is definitely not possible to claim that the 2011 will is in any way unreasonable.

Questioning Mr. MacDougall while he was in the witness stand, the lawyer suggested that his mother had been upset with him after he confessed to having an affair with a council employee in 2008.

Your mother, belonging to the older generation and liking your wife, wasn’t pleased with you, was she?” he asked Mr. MacDougall. “She was very upset about what you had done.

She wasn’t sad—she was thrilled when it ended,” he said, but then added, “She made me remember my duties, but it was just a short affair. If she had been angry with me, my mother would have let me know. She would have given me a real dressing down.

He maintained that the incident occurring before his mother’s 2008 revelation demonstrated that her infidelity did not influence her choices.

However, implying that his mother might have been ‘brooding’ over it for a while, Mr Learmonth stated: ‘Just because you don’t act on a motive at a particular moment, it doesn’t mean it isn’t still present later.’

There had been a distinction in the pensioner’s relationships with her two children, characterizing that with Mr MacDougall as ‘difficult,’ especially in the workplace.

‘Jeanne was always very close to her daughter Sandra – “joined at the hip,” Mr MacDougall said – and had a strong affection for her son-in-law Philip,’ he explained to the judge.

When drafting her last will, she was also very aware of the advantages Mr. MacDougall had already gained, as he had eventually become the sole owner of the family company.

He was handed over ‘substantial assets’ and now possesses ‘a significant collection of rental properties, along with a vacation home in Cyprus and a barn-style house in the countryside,’ the lawyer stated.

However, Mr. MacDougall maintained that his success was due to his hard work while his sister and brother-in-law enjoyed ‘a life of luxury,’ and he remarked: ‘Where is the reward?’

The defendant’s lawyer, Mr. Martin, stated that the ex-partners had ‘withdrawn substantial amounts’ from the mother’s bank accounts during their period of power of attorney from 2012 to 2020, and had ‘misused’ nearly £1.7 million.

Their lawyer, Mr Learmonth, stated that they acknowledge going beyond their responsibilities under the power of attorney by using her funds for their own and their family’s benefit.

However, he stated it was effectively “an advance on their inheritance” since the majority of her money was intended for Mrs. Thomas under both the 2008 and 2011 wills.

He mentioned that they hadn’t received adequate guidance on their options and thought they could manage her funds as they assumed she would have preferred, using the money to lower inheritance tax.

Importantly, Jeanne never endured any hardship — she always experienced every comfort,” he said. “It made no difference at all to Gary, regardless of which will was valid.

Nevertheless, Mr. Martin mentioned that the wills provided Mrs. Thomas with only the funds that were present in her bank accounts, and since this money had been used, it was no longer in those accounts at the time her mother passed away.

He stated that Mr. MacDougall was entitled to half of the value of the amount taken, as his mother would have had a right to that sum from the couple during her lifetime, which would then have been included in her remaining estate to be divided between him and his sister.

Upon her passing, their mother’s wealth was estimated at £2.5 million, but Mr. MacDougall claims it would have exceeded £5 million had it not been for the ‘misappropriated’ £1.685 million and additional assets removed from her estate prior to her death.

The trial continues.

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