Two brothers have lost a bitter inheritance battle for their £2.65 million family farm after their grandmother told them ‘one day it will be yours’ over Sunday lunch.
Grandmother Mary Stevens, who died aged 96 in 2020, left the 170-acre West Hook Farm near Okehampton, Devon, to her two daughters – the brothers’ mother, Ruth Maile, 73, and aunt Sheila Kempthorne, 69.
But John Maile, 37, and Steven Maile, 40, took the case to court claiming they had been repeatedly told they would inherit the multimillion-pound mixed arable and dairy farm.
The court heard how Ms Stevens even promised them over Sunday lunch: ‘One day this will all be yours’.
On the basis of the promises, they had worked long hours on the farm for little more than ‘pocket money,’ the pair claimed.
Although a 2011 will left the brothers with equal shares of West Hook Farm, Ms Stevens wrote an amended will in 2016 and left it to their mother and aunt, Sheila. This was to ‘be fairer to Sheila’s side of the family’, a court heard.
The Maile brothers were instead allowed to keep the farm’s livestock.
Now a court has struck out the brothers’ case, ruling that ‘intimidating’ John Maile attempted to pressure his grandmother into changing her will, and even began secretly recording their conversations.
Steven Maile, 40, launched legal action alongside his brother and mother after being cut out of his grandmother’s will
John Maile, 37, was ‘intimidating’ in the way he pressured his grandmother, Mary Stevens, to change her will and recorded their conversations, a judge ruled
Grandmother Mary Stevens, who died aged 96 in 2020, left the 170-acre West Hook Farm (pictured) near Okehampton, Devon, to her two daughters
Launching legal action, the brothers had claimed that their aunt had exercised ‘undue influence’ on their grandmother and that she cooked up a ‘cunning plan’ with her mother’s solicitor to ensure she and her sister inherited the farm.
Lawyers for the pair claimed Ms Stevens lacked ‘testamentary capacity’ and that there was a lack of ‘knowledge and approval’ on her part as to the changes made in the 2016 will.
Although set to be a major beneficiary, mother Ms Kempthorne sided with her sons against her sister in a bid to overturn the 2016 amendment.
But Mr Justice Green at the High Court in Bristol has thrown out the brothers’ case, noting John Maile’s ‘scheming’ and ‘intimidating’ behaviour during the family strife.
The court heard West Hook Farm was acquired by the family nearly 100 years ago and has been farmed by them ever since.
The farmland includes lucrative pastures, arable fields, a six-bed farmhouse, holiday cottages and outbuildings, all worth around £2.65m.
The brothers, their mother and aunt have worked the land as part of an existing farming partnership set up by their grandmother.
They have also run a partnership with their father, Peter Maile, at neighbouring Agistment Farm, which takes up most of their time and effort.
Aunt Sheila Kempthorne was left an equal share of the farm as her sister in the amended 2016 will
Ruth Maile, 73, mother to John and Steven, also disputed the 2016 amended will
Grandmother Ms Stevens decided to leave John and Steven equal shares of the farm in 2011, but five years later, she changed her mind.
Mr Justice Green said the case was ‘largely pressed by John, probably together with his mother’, adding – ‘he is very determined to get what he believes is rightfully his and his brother’s’.
When he learned that Ms Stevens had cut him out from inheriting the farm, John even began secretly taping conversations with her, although he ‘claimed not to remember the reason why’.
Steven Maile was, by contrast, more ‘reserved’, said the judge, and seemed ‘more prepared to accept if his grandmother decided to be fair to both sides of the family’ by leaving equal shares to his mother and aunt.
After 2016, Ms Stevens did not reinstate her grandsons as heirs to her farm, despite what the judge described as ‘pressure being applied from the Maile family’.
‘That pressure is evident from the secret recordings made by John,’ he said.
‘Apart from the meeting on 2 June 2016, John seems to have started to record after he had begun to converse with his grandmother, perhaps when he thought she might say something useful.’
John, Steven and their mother testified that Ms Stevens had told them, ‘I think I’ve done something I should not have done’ in relation to cutting out her grandsons, and that she consistently talked about wanting to change her will in their favour again.
The court heard West Hook Farm was acquired by the family nearly 100 years ago and has been farmed by them ever since.
But the judge said it was clear that the grandmother had simply stuck to her guns despite pressure from John, and may have said things simply to ‘placate’ him.
‘She never did try to change her will back so as to leave the farm to the claimants,’ the judge observed.
‘John’s displeasure at the removal of the gift of the farm to him and his brother is palpable and I believe was felt by the deceased. She was already sensitive to John’s unhappiness with the situation, but I think she knew what she was doing.
‘She was saying things to placate her grandson, but had no intention of changing her mind.’
Commenting on John’s character, he told the court: ‘I could see that his persistence could be somewhat intimidating, certainly for a person like his grandmother in her 90s.
‘It appears from his secretly recorded conversations, which I have listened to, that he was quite prepared to let his grandmother know that he was upset that she had decided not to leave the farm to him and his brother, and there is a hectoring tone to what he was saying to her.
‘He did not raise his voice – he knew he was recording the conversation – but he was clearly pushing her to say something that he knew she would say and which he therefore wanted recorded.
‘That is quite scheming of him. And that appears to be part of his nature.’
John claimed his grandmother had promised him and his brother West Hook when they were teenagers, recalling one occasion when she had done so while showing him the property’s original 1927 auction documents.
The promises were repeated several times around the table during the family’s Sunday lunch, he insisted.
On top of that, the brothers claimed to have toiled on the land for mere ‘pocket money’ and so were entitled to expect to be rewarded for their labours.
But the judge dismissed claims that they had worked for a pittance, commenting: ‘It was quite misleading of them to have said that they only received very small amounts of pocket money.
‘It emerged from the oral evidence that the claimants had quite substantial savings, most of which were put into the Maile partnership.’
Turning to the brothers’ accusations that their aunt, Sheila, ‘secretly arranged’ for Mary to meet up with the family’s lawyer in February 2016 to get the two siblings written out of their inheritance, the judge labelled the claim against the solicitor ‘extraordinary’ and ruled that the undue influence accusation ‘should never have been made’.
‘I do not detect that there was some cunning plan by Sheila, even less so by [Mary’s solicitor], to persuade the deceased to move away from the 2011 codicil,’ he told the court.
‘In summary, I find that there were no clear and unequivocal representations or assurances that the deceased would be leaving the farm to the claimants in her will.’
The judge rejected John and Steven’s challenge to the 2016 will codicil and ordered them, their mother and father Peter Maile to give up possession of West Hook Farm to Sheila as executrix of Mary’s estate.
