Land promises can end in court more often than you might think, so it should be no surprise to discover that when Anthony “Tony” Sowray promised Matthew and James Wills the land after he died, it would end up in court.
The two brothers were awarded £350,000 worth of land after the dispute between Matthew and James and the estranged daughter of Mr. Sowray was presented to the High Court.
The land won by the brothers is the 20 hectare Gilmoor Farm in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Not only were they awarded the land but the outbuilidngs and barns on the land as well.
Claire Sowray, the estranged daughter of the decedent, has inherited the £150,000 farmhouse in the land and has been ordered to pay the cost of litigation.
The Agreements
The reason that this case ended up in front of the High Court was the lack of will. Mr. Sowray had owned and lived at Gilmoor Farm, but despite making the promises to the Wills brothers, he did not have a will in place when he died. Under uk inheritance law, when there is no will, the entire estate is automatically inherited by the next of kin. In this case, Mr. Sowray’s estranged daughter.
The promise he made to Matthew and James was not immediately onserved without the will outlining Mr. Sowray’s wishes despite Matthew having worked on the farm for over 20 years and James having been promised the land that he had built his home on, something that was also a part of the farm land.
There were two agreements that were verbally made by Mr. Sowray with the Wills brothers. The first was with Matthew. Matthew had been heavily involved with the farm for many years when Mr. Sowray promised the land to him. As this agreement was made, Matthew then proceeded to take on all the work on the farm.
The agreement made with James was a trade. James gave Mr. Sowray his Jeep, and in exchange, he would receive the land that he lived on with his wife when Mr. Sowray died. James had built a log cabin on the land years ago for himself and his wife.
Unfortunately, not only was there no will, but there was no written record of any of these agreements.
Though Mr. Sowray was estranged from his daughter, towards the end of his life, he had made an effort to reconnect with his daughter, and Mr. Sowray had told Matthew Wills that he wanted to leave the farmhouse to his daughter.
Intestate
Despite his intentions, Mr. Sowray died in 2017 intestate. The court heard that the first time that Mr. Sowray and his daughter had met was when she was 22 years old. During the dispute, Ms. Sowray claimed that her father had told her he intended to leave the whole farm, not just the farm house to her, and they had gone as far as making business plans together.
But even if this was the case, the Wills brothers argeed that the promises that Mr. Sowray made to them were made long before Mr. Sowray met with his daughter. Because of this, their livelihoods were completely reliant on the farm and Mr. Sowray’s promises. Because of this, Mr. Sowray was not free or entitled to go back on the promises he had made to the brothers.
Do you need the help of Fleetwood Heir Hunters? Call us today to see what we can do for you.