The Daily Telegraph

Widow loses court claim for more cash

- By Daily Telegraph Reporter

A WIDOW has lost a High Court case to increase her provision from her husband’s will, after her daughter argued she was spending too much money.

Mary Sargeant and her husband Joe were married for 45 years and he set up a trust with the intention she would be a “wealthy woman” after he died.

But he also expressed his wish to see his Northants farm, estimated to be worth up to £8million, preserved for his daughter Jane and her family. As a result, a number of disagreeme­nts arose between mother and daughter in the years after his death in 2005.

Mrs Sargeant was left in financial difficulti­es and claimed her income was not sufficient. However, her daughter believed she was spending too much and should rely on her own savings to cover any shortfall. Both women were against the idea, suggested by the family’s solicitor, that some of the land should be sold as the trust was “capital rich but cash poor”.

Mrs Sargeant launched proceeding­s more than 10 years after her husband died, arguing that she should receive more from the estate.

Her lawyers said she had not been aware of the financial implicatio­ns until more recently, and argued she should be entitled to more money, despite the usual sixmonth limit on such a claim having long passed.

Rejecting her claim at the High Court in Birmingham, Judge David Cooke said it was “impossible” to believe she had not realised her predicamen­t sooner.

Jane Sargeant said: “Keeping our farm within the Sargeant family and fully operationa­l was something my father wanted very much and today’s decision is exactly what we were hoping for.”

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