Family lose bid to cut nephew's inheritance

By TONY STICKLEY

The family of a 95-year-old Forrest Hill woman have failed in their legal challenge to stop the bulk of the woman's $486,000 estate going to her favourite nephew.

They claimed that Evelyn Lingard Macpherson lacked the mental capacity to make a will and that the frail old woman had been under the undue influence of her nephew and godson, David Squires.

But Justice David Baragwanath ruled the will was valid.

Medical staff had said that Mrs Macpherson was delirious and not fit to make a will that day.

But the lawyer who made the will and the JP who witnessed it said in court that she knew exactly what she was doing.

Under the will, made at North Shore Hospital on December 18, 2000, six months before Mrs Macpherson's death, Mr Squires receives three-quarters of his aunt's estate - about $364,000.

The rest is to be shared between two other nephews, Peter and Richard Squires, and Mrs Macpherson's half-sister, Dora Smith.

Under an earlier 1989 will, Peter Squires, Richard Squires and a niece, Charlotte Nijsse, were to share the proceeds equally with David Squires, after a life interest to Mrs Macpherson's sister Diana Squires and Diana's husband. Under the new will, Charlotte Nijsse receives nothing.

Charlotte Nijsse, Peter Squires (a senior engineering lecturer at Canterbury University) and Richard Squires contested David Squires' claim for probate of the hospital will on the grounds of Mrs Macpherson's lack of capacity and alleged undue influence by David.

After Mrs Macpherson's death another will in her handwriting and dated June 1998 was found. It left the house to David Squires and shared her savings between him, Peter Squires, Charlotte Nijsse and Richard Squires.

The court heard that Charlotte Nijsse fell out of favour in 2000 after Mrs Macpherson wrote asking for some books that had allegedly been "borrowed" to be returned.

Charlotte Nijsse wrote a letter saying she and her husband were upset they had been accused of stealing.

Mrs Macpherson, who had no children, reportedly said: "Well, that's that. She gets nothing."

In a reserved decision, Justice Baragwanath said there had also been evidence that Mrs Macpherson was upset over a "supposed Penny Black stamp", said to be a family heirloom worth around $3000 that Charlotte Nijsse had allegedly sold.

As the alleged Penny Black episode was not part of the case claiming a loss of Mrs Macpherson's faculties, the judge said he did not have to decide if it actually occurred.

The court heard that in March 1998 David Squires sold his house in Wellington and moved into Mrs Macpherson's home, doing the cooking, housework and shopping.

He said she promised him the house when she died, a claim corroborated by other witnesses, including a neighbour.

Charlotte Nijsse claimed in court that David Squires had set out to move in with his aunt to influence her to leave her estate to him.

She said he had plotted to maximise his own inheritance and had taken improper advantage of his aunt when she was vulnerable.

Kay Squires, Peter's wife, told the court that David Squires had poisoned Mrs Macpherson's mind against Charlotte Nijsse.

A nurse and a registrar at North Shore Hospital said Mrs Macpherson did not seem capable of signing a will because she did not seem in control of her faculties that day.

But the lawyer who interviewed Mrs Macpherson and prepared the will, and the JP who witnessed the making of the will, testified that she was aware of what she was doing.

Justice Baragwanath said neither the nurse nor the doctor was present during the crucial part of the lawyer's interview with Mrs Macpherson.

Both of them, as well as two expert geriatricians, acknowledged the real prospect of a "lucid interval" in Mrs Macpherson's changing condition at the relevant time.

The judge found the evidence established the probability that the will instructions and its execution occurred during such an interval.

"I am in no doubt that Mrs Macpherson knew and understood that she was making a will."

There was no doubt of David's "enthusiasm" for the will, including his persistence, graphically illustrated in two visits to the hospital on December 18 with two sets of witnesses.

"But I am satisfied ... it was she who initiated the process."

The decision has been appealed.

David Squires said last night that the dispute had ruined the family relationship.

"I spent thousands of hours with the lady, taking her up and down the country and all that jazz."

- additional reporting: Bridget Carter