Farmer sued by his mother, 88, over £6m family estate
A MOTHER is suing her farmer son in a court battle over the £6million family country estate he believes was promised to him since he was a boy.
Peter Horsford, 54, claims he gave up a normal childhood to work on the 540-acre farm from the age of ten, as his parents assured him: ‘This will be yours one day.’
But his mother, Marian Horsford, 88, is demanding more than £2.5million for her share in the estate, denying that such promises were made and insisting that his labour was normal for a farm boy.
Mr Horsford has refused to pay, accusing his mother of ‘reneging on her lifetime of assurances’, the High Court in London heard.
The dispute began in 2016 when
Mrs Horsford retired from the family farming partnership and asked for payment for her share of the estate near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire – part of which is rented out as a wind farm.
She is claiming more than £2.5million for ‘ the value of her outgoing partner’s share’, plus £23,000 in past income profits.
Mrs Horsford split from Mr Horsford’s father, Davis, in 2011 and he now has dementia. The holding includes two farmhouses and a barn conversion.
Peter Horsford and his wife, Gail, live in a lodge – which is in his name – on the estate, while his parents until recently lived in a farmhouse, to which he lays no claim. But he insists that all 540 acres of land are his by right.
He told the court he worked long
‘Reneging on assurances’
hours on the land as a boy in the school summer holidays.
He added: ‘I’m not saying that they forced me but they encouraged me throughout my life to take that direction for the future.’
Christopher Stoner QC, for Mr Horsford, claimed the assurances given by his parents that he would inherit were ‘clear and unequivocal’.
‘As a child and teenager, he worked on the farm every summer, carrying out increasingly onerous and complex tasks for little more than pocket money,’ the barrister said.
After a stint at agricultural college, Mr Horsford worked full-time on the farm from 1987. He claims that for the past 18 years he has effectively run it on his own.
Stephen Jourdain QC, for Mrs Horsford, said any ‘family understanding’ that her son would inherit the estate was never ‘set in stone’.
He added: ‘It’s standard in every farming family for children to help out. This is not a case of someone who worked hard for many years for low pay and without other reward – quite the contrary.
‘Peter benefited very substantially from the choice he made to farm with his parents.’
The barrister also disputed that Mr Horsford’s parents made repeated promises to hand him the farm, highlighting evidence that his mother had considered leaving her stake to her daughter Liz.
Mr Jourdain said Liz claimed that she and their other sister Helen had all helped out on the farm outside school hours. But Mr Horsford told the court: ‘I don’t remember Liz on the farm at all.’
Judge Murray Rosen finished hearing submissions in the case yesterday. He will give his ruling at a later date.