Gary MacDougall, 70, said he was left with nothing to inherit from his mum’s substantial fortune after she died in April 2020 – he is now accusing his sister of plundering £1.6m of the money
A mum has cut off her son from inheriting her £5 million fortune after he was accused of cheating on his wife, leaving her “ashamed”.
Gary MacDougall, 70, had expected that he would split multi-millionaire mum Jeanne MacDougall’s estate with his sister Sandra Thomas, 65, and her husband, Philip. But after a change of her will in 2011 and a series of property sales and gifts, Gary was left with “nil” to inherit from his mum’s fortune when she died in April 2020.
He is now suing at the High Court to overturn his mum’s last will while also accusing his sister and brother-in-law of plundering £1.685m of Jeanne’s money while she was still alive. He also claims that the couple “procured by undue influence” a £1.7m house to be gifted to them when his mum was not mentally capable of doing so and despite it having earlier been promised to him.
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However, Gary was this week forced to deny that his mum had real reasons to cut him out – including her shame at him having cheated on his wife, Anna, with a local council worker. Lawyers for his sister said Jeanne – as a member of an older, more traditional generation – was “disappointed” with and “ashamed” of her son, supported his wife amid his infidelity and may have cut him out after “brooding” about the affair.
But giving evidence, Gary denied he was disinherited because of his admitted affair, telling a judge his “sharp as a tack” mum would have given him “both barrels” if she was really angry with him. Judge Nicola Rushton KC heard the MacDougall family fortune derived from the siblings’ property developer father Alec MacDougall’s “substantial real estate portfolio.”
Development properties were mainly bought up in the Acton and Ealing areas of west London, renovated and rented out, generating significant profits. For Gary, barrister Harry Martin claimed that over the years it had been made clear to the two siblings by their parents that they would ultimately receive “broadly equal financial treatment and inheritance.”
This included his father insisting to Gary that he would not require a significant pension pot as he would inherit property on which to live on in his retirement, said the barrister. Following their dad’s death, the parties’ mum made a will in 2008, which Mr Martin said amounted to a “broadly equal” split between her son and his family on one side and daughter and son-in-law on the other.
Under that will, Gary and his family would receive properties in Avenue Crescent and Berrymead Gardens, while Sandra and Philip got houses in Stuart Road and Avenue Gardens, and Sandra got most of the cash in her bank accounts. But another will was then made in 2011, under which all four properties went to his sister and brother-in-law, while Sandra would continue to receive the majority of her savings.
Gary and Sandra would split the small amount that was left, but due to the costs and expenses of estate administration, that is “likely to be worth nil,” Mr Martin says. Now suing, Gary, who had worked with his mum in the family business, claims the will is invalid due to the influence Sandra and her husband had on Jeanne, who had by then “lost almost all of her independence.”
He also claims the pensioner lacked the necessary mental capacity due to dementia when she signed the will and did not properly understand its effect, having been made at a time when she was elderly and dependent on Sandra and Philip. He is challenging the 2015 gift to Sandra and Philip of the Avenue Crescent house, which he says was promised to him and worth £1.7m, but done at a time when his mother did not have capacity to make it. His sister values it at under £1m.
Gary is also laying claim to a share of about £1.685m of his mum’s money, which he says was “misappropriated” from her bank accounts before she died and spent by his sister and brother-in-law on themselves and their family. Cross-examining Gary in the witness box, the barrister put it to him that his mum had been disappointed with him when he had an admitted affair with a council worker in 2008. “Your mother, being of the older generation and being fond of your wife, was not happy with you, was she?” he put to Gary. “She was very disappointed with what you had done.”
“She wasn’t happy, no – she was delighted when it concluded,” he replied, but added: “She reminded me of my responsibilities, but it was a very brief fling. If she was cross with me, mum would’ve let me know. She would’ve given me both barrels.” He insisted that the fact that the affair happened before his mum made her “broadly equal” 2008 will showed his infidelity didn’t affect her decisions.
But suggesting that Jeanne may have been “brooding” on it for some time, Mr Learmonth said: “Just because you don’t act on a motive at one point, it doesn’t mean it’s not still there later.” The barrister said there had been a difference between the relationships Jeanne had with her two children, describing that with Gary as being “fractious,” particularly in the office at work.
“Jeanne was always very close with her daughter Sandra – ‘joined at the hip,’ Gary said – and very fond of her son-in-law Philip,” he told the judge. In making her final will, she was also very conscious of the benefits Gary had already received, having ultimately become sole owner of the family business.
He had received “huge assets” and now has “a considerable portfolio of rental properties, as well as a holiday home in Cyprus and an oast house in the countryside,” he said. However, Gary insisted that his success was down to him “grafting” while his sister and brother-in-law lived “the life of luxury,” adding: “Where’s the reward?”
His barrister, Mr Martin, said the former couple had “extracted significant sums” from Jeanne’s accounts while they had a power of attorney over her between 2012 and 2020 and had “misappropriated” almost £1.7million. When she died, Jeanne’s fortune was valued at £2.5m, but Gary says it would have been over £5m but for the “misappropriated” £1.685m and other property transferred out of her estate before she died, including the £1.7m Avenue Crescent house which was gifted to Sandra and Philip.
The trial continues.
