Woman wins 29-year war over mum’s family photos
A WOMAN has won a “completely mad” 29-year tug-of-war with her family over a suitcase full of photos that belonged to her late mother.
Judith Andersson, 76, and her brother Tim’s widow Diane Ward, 77, racked up £70,000 in lawyers’ bills fighting over a family archive of papers and pictures previously owned by her mother, Frieda Ward, that had “no monetary value”.
The treasured archive was said to be a record of the history of her family, who founded Jerusalem’s famous American Colony Hotel.
Following Frieda’s death in London in 1993, the photos ended up in the hands of Ms Andersson’s brother Tim Ward. But after he and their other sibling John both died within a month of each other, she launched a court fight to get them.
She sued Tim’s wife Diane and son Peter, as executors of his estate, at Central London County Court, demanding that they give her the archive – contained in a purple suitcase, which was brought to the court.
Special
Handing victory to Ms Andersson, Judge Mark Raeside said the photographs had been held by Tim on trust for all three siblings and that it was now “Judith’s time to benefit from them”.
And in a case previously described by another judge as “completely mad”, he ordered Diane and Peter to pick up the lawyers’ bill for the case.
The court heard that Frieda Ward was born in Jerusalem, where her grandparents Horatio Gates Spafford and Anna Spafford founded the American Colony Hotel.
The spot became a popular destination for celebrity visitors to the region and played host to T.E. Lawrence, Winston Churchill and Bob Dylan.
Both Ms Andersson and Diane Ward are part owners of the hotel to this day.
Ms Andersson, who now lives in the United States, told Judge Raeside that the archive in the suitcase was a “special” set of property, to be treated differently to the rest of their mother’s estate. Her barrister Oliver Ingham said the siblings had agreed that, despite the archive going to Tim initially, it would be owned by all of them, and any of them could ask for it.
It was claimed Tim had refused to provide it to his sister when she asked. Following his death, his widow Diane, from Northampton, had also refused to hand it over, the judge was told.
In the end, Judge Raeside said: “Each of Judith’s siblings has had the benefit of it during their lifetime and it is now Judith’s time to have it.”