High Court rocks legacy fundraising

The £2bn a year legacy fundraising sector has been thrown into chaos after the High Court ruled that a deceased woman’s nephew was entitled to inherit her whole estate, despite her leaving it to charity in her will.
The case was brought by seven animal charities – the Blue Cross, the PDSA, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Donkey Sanctuary, World Animal Protection, Redwings and the Chilterns Dog Rescue Society – who said the money had been left to them.
But Kenneth King claimed he was given his aunt’s £350,000 Hertfordshire home before June Fairbrother died in April 2011. The charities, however, claimed King, who had been declared bankrupted twice and jailed for acting as a company director when disqualified, could not be trusted.
In a judgment made yesterday, Deputy Judge Charles Hollander said he believed that Fairbrother told King to look after her pets in the house and left him the property as a death-bed gift – known as donatio mortis causa.
“Mr King‘s evidence was that June never discussed the existence of a will but on a number of occasions told him that the property would be his after her death,” the judgment says. “In the period shortly before her death, she signed documents to the effect that Mr King should have the property when she died.”
The law firm Wilsons, acting on behalf of the charities, issued a statement expressing their disappointment at the ruling. It said: “June Fairbrother made a will in 1998 leaving just over £20,000 of pecuniary legacies and the rest of her estate to seven animal welfare charities. Mrs Fairbrother was well known for her love of animals and was a supporter of many of the charities during her lifetime.
“When Mrs Fairbrother died in 2011, her estate mainly consisted of a property worth £350,000. Some time after her death, her nephew, Kenneth King, claimed that Mrs Fairbrother had given him her property four to six months before she died, undermining her will and leaving nothing for her chosen charities.
“The charities are considering whether to appeal the judgment and are therefore unable to comment further.”

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