Farmer's sons lose their ENTIRE £200,000 inheritance from father's will in doomed legal bid to stop their stepmother getting an extra £25,000
- Kent farmer died in 2012 and left his estate to his sons and his second wife
- But brothers claimed her share was too much and took the matter to court
- Judge backed the will and said men should never have put widow through case
- He orders that they pay the costs of the case - wiping out their inheritance
Two farmer's sons have been slammed by a judge after blowing their entire inheritance on a 'hopeless' bid to stop their stepmother getting an extra £25,000 from their father's will.
Richard and Jonathan Powell had claimed their disabled father, David, did not understand what he was doing when he made his final will, granting his second wife, Ailsa Powell, £125,000.
They said an earlier document - from which their stepmother would have got £100,000 - was his last true will, and forced the pensioner to go to court over it.
But after ruling in her favour, Judge Marc Dight has now said the middle-aged brothers were 'unreasonable' not to accept that their father and stepmother were a 'devoted couple'.
Jonathan Powell (left) and Richard Powell (right) took their stepmother to court claiming their father's will, which gave her £125,000, was void. A judge disagreed and ordered they pay costs
Ruling that they should pick up the entire £200,000 legal bill for the case - thereby wiping out their own inheritance - the judge blasted the sons for forcing her to go to court.
'She should not have been put to the trouble and expense of proving this claim on the tenuous basis of challenge advanced by Richard and Jonathan Powell,' the judge said.
'My conclusion is that their position has not been reasonable at any point in this litigation.
A judge said the brothers had wrongly dragged stepmother Ailsa Powell, 75, to court over the dispute
'Their stance has, it is apparent to me, been driven by personal issues and not by a reasonable inquiry into their father's state of mind.'
Central London County Court earlier heard that retired Kent farm manager, David Powell, died aged 84 in 2012 after a 20-year battle with Parkinson's Disease.
His death set his second wife of nine years and his sons from his first marriage - Wandsworth financial adviser Richard, 54, and America-based Jonathan, 55, - against each other in court.
Mrs Williamson Powell, of Littlebourne, Kent, said a will made in 2009 in which she was left £125,000 was her husband's last true will. The brothers were bequeathed £62,500 each.
However, the brothers said a will made 18 months earlier in 2008, in which she and they split the estate three ways, was the last valid will.
The widow's barrister Mark Dencer said the case had only come about because the brothers did not like their step-mum.
They were simply trying to 'enrich' themselves in the hope that the widow would 'lack the stomach or means to fight', he claimed.
Having lost the case, the brothers argued that the £200,000 costs of the case should be paid out of their dad's estate.
But Judge Dight said that would result in it being almost completely wiped out, with everyone losing their inheritance.
The ruling was made in the Central London County Court, sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice
He said it was no one's fault but theirs that the case had ended up in court, where, by the end of the trial, they were contesting only £25,000 of their step-mother's inheritance.
It means neither brother will ever see a penny of their £62,500 inheritance, as that money will go straight to lawyers to begin paying off the costs bill.
The court heard Mrs Williamson Powell had tried to settle the case outside court and found it 'inexplicable' that it had actually gone to trial.
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