Cat Responsible For £2 Million Inheritance After Uncovering Lost Brother's Will
A cat caused a small disaster, and it ended up changing the course of a £2 million inheritance fight. In this case, the chaos was exactly what Venetia Murray needed.
For 13 years, Venetia had been trying to prove she was owed part of her brother Dean's estate, but the will that backed up her claim had been missing for decades. Then a household cat knocked over a pile of papers that were about to be shredded, and the lost document finally turned up.
What followed was a long legal battle with a surprisingly lucky ending, and the family fallout was just as messy as the paperwork.
While the cat may be fun, the family's story is far from uplifting, and the recent ruling in favor of Venetia Murray was more of an uphill battle than anything.
According to The Daily Mail: "Dean Brunt, his brother Dale, and sister Venetia Murray, 36, had between them owned £6m Ettridge Farm, Hertfordshire, which they had inherited from their grandfather, until Dean's death, aged 35, in a railway accident in 2007."
Sadly, Dean passed away at the age of 35 in 2007 in a railroad accident. Dean, who was believed to have suffered from learning difficulties and mental health issues due to his brain being deprived of oxygen as an infant, stepped in front of a train.
His death was ruled by a coroner to be an accident, and it was believed that he had never actually made a will. His £2 million share of the farm was given to the children's mother, Marlene Brunt. Marlene then proceeded to give that share to her eldest son, Dale.
What happened next, no one could have anticipated.
What happened next, no one could have anticipated.
A solicitor's cat knocked over a pile of papers that were intended to be shredded, revealing not one, but two wills signed by Dean in 1999! Venetia and her Uncle Bob then found themselves in a vicious court battle against Marlene and Dale.
Venetia's lawyers argued that one of the wills provided 'crucial evidence' of Dean's intention to give his sister half his wealth.
According to the Daily Mail:
"The court heard that the three siblings inherited the farm, at Broxbourne, from their grandfather Arthur Nicholls, who had bought it with his earnings as a prize fighter, and died in 1990."
It was said that Dean saw Arthur as his hero, and when he passed, his mother Marlene "obtained 'letters of administration' over his estate on the basis that he had died an 'intestate bachelor,' without having made a valid will and with no children of his own."
That missing will had been sitting at the center of the fight all along.
And this is a lot like the son who surprised his parents with a cat, only for the plan to push them toward separation.
At that point, Dale owned 2/3 of the family's business and property, while Venetia and her uncle lived elsewhere on the property, isolated and allegedly "bullied" out of the family business.
During the court hearings, Venetia explained that she had simply assumed when Dean died that she and Dale were equal part owners of the farm and business, and was shocked to learn nearly a decade after his passing that her mother had inherited Dean's share. She was even more shocked to learn that Dean had not made a will and that her mother had given the share awarded to her to Dale.
It was not until 2018 when Dean's former financial advisor, Howard Day, claimed to have found Dean's final will among his files. Marlene and Dale argued that the will was a forgery, and before they could battle it out in court, Day died.
The paperwork trail finally gave the case some much-needed clarity.
According to Daily Mail: "Papers relating to disputes within the family had been sent from Mr. Day's office to the office of Mr. Wrangle's solicitor, Katy Sillett, in London."
Mrs. Sillett had organized Day's papers and had a pile of duplicates and redundant papers set aside to be shredded when her cat knocked the pile over, revealing a second will among them. As she picked up the papers, she noticed the discrepancy: a paper she believed to be a duplicate was actually an original!
The first will had been discredited originally because Day's signature appeared unsteady and was believed to have been signed years after Dean's death. The second will, identical to the first, had a steady signature that matched Day's signatures from the 1990s.
Thank goodness for cats!
For more cat-related family chaos, see how a woman claims her sister stole her identical cat.
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