£800,000 will torn up on deathbed

A family is entangled in an £800,000 inheritance battle after Carry Keats, an elderly woman, partially tore her will on her deathbed.

Carry Keats, 92, reportedly ripped three-quarters of the way through her will while in a Salisbury hospital in 2022. Under a Victorian law, a person can legally revoke their will by tearing it up, provided they destroy it with clear intent or instruct a solicitor to do so.

If Mrs. Keats is found to have legally invalidated the will, she will have died intestate (without a valid will), meaning her entire estate would go to her younger sister, Josephine Oakley. However, five distant cousins—who would each inherit a portion of her estate under the original will—argue that the document remains valid because Mrs. Keats did not completely tear it in two.

The cousins, led by David Crew, claim that Mrs. Keats intended to exclude her sister from the will, allegedly disapproving of her personal choices in the past—a claim Mrs. Oakley denies. Mr. Crew, along with his sister Angela and second cousins Kevin, Jason, and Leon Whitehorn, also argue that Mrs. Keats did not have the mental capacity to revoke her will.

Mrs. Oakley, however, maintains that her sister chose to exclude the cousins after they suggested placing her in a care home.

Mrs. Keats, who operated a successful caravan park, passed away on February 15, 2022, less than three weeks after partially tearing up the will in the presence of her longtime lawyer, Hafwen Webb. Ms. Webb then completed the process, fully tearing up the document.

The cousins' lawyer, Simon Sinnatt, has questioned the legitimacy of the will's destruction, arguing that Ms. Webb's involvement may render it invalid, as Mrs. Keats was medicated and reportedly in pain at the time. However, Ms. Webb testified that Mrs. Keats was a "well-known and long-standing client," asserting that her "character hadn't changed."

Most of the £800,000 estate is tied up in her home and property in the Wiltshire village of Nomansland. The disputed will was created 18 months before her passing. In her final years, Mrs. Keats grew closer to her sister, who provided her with regular companionship, grocery shopping, and assistance with medical appointments.

Judge Deputy Master John Linwood, who presided over the High Court case, has reserved his ruling, with a decision expected at a later date.

PM Law

Sheffield Solicitors