Daughters fail to reverse father's will leaving £4million fortune to step-mother

December 14, 2011 at 11:28 AM

Three sisters have failed in their bid to overturn their late father's will which left everything to their step-mother. Victoria Wharton, Amanda Wharton and Gina Fagin had asked that the will be declared null and void as their step-mother, Maureen, had exerted "undue influence"over their father on his deathbed.

Maureen had been their father's partner for over 3 decades but the pair only married 3 days before Mr Wharton's death from cancer. The judge, Mr Justice Norris said 78 year old Mr Wharton had consciously wanted to change his will in September 2008 on the same day he married Mrs Wharton in the sitting room of his home in Sheerness, Kent. The judge said many of Mr Wharton's friends and acquaintances had believed Mr Wharton to be already married to Mrs Wharton and that Mr Wharton had viewed the marriage as a solution to an inheritance tax problem. Mr Justice Norris said he was "satisfied, in the context of all the evidence, that Mr Wharton 'knew and approved, understood and sanctioned' the terms of the 2008 will".

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