• What is a ‘win’ in litigation?
• What is the case about?
• How common is financial abuse?
• What is financial abuse?
• Why was this case not a ‘win’?
• What can we do to stop this sort of abuse?

What is a ‘win’ in litigation?

Inheritance disputes are often reported in a way that implies that there is a winner and a loser.  Sometimes that’s true, but real life is often a lot more nuanced.  Take the headline from the Daily Mail on 31st July 2024 “Teacher wins £675,000 payment from her sister and sister’s husband after they blew her mother’s fortune on high risk, spread betting and a Porche”.

It’s the word ‘wins’  – creating the impression of a windfall, that I take issue with.

What is the case about?

From the reported facts it appears that Angela Wright, 84, lost mental capacity in 2017.  One of her two daughter, Emma Parfrement, took control of her elderly mother’s savings of £475,000.  She transferred most of the funds to her (now) ex-husband who claimed that he would invest it on Angela’s behalf.  It’s not clear whether Emma acted under a Power of Attorney or not.  Either way, the money disappeared.  Angela Wright passed away in 2019 and her other daughter Olivia Wright then realised that her mother’s estate had been plundered.

How common is financial abuse?

There is no up to date research on the prevalence of financial abuse in the UK.  In research published by the charity Help the Aged in 2007 it was suggested that over 100,000 people over the age of 65 in the UK had experienced financial abuse in the previous 12 months.

What is financial abuse?

It is a difficult subject to research and report on because individuals are often financially abused by trusted family members, carers or friends. Also, understanding what financial abuse actually is, is not always straightforward.  33.9% of UK respondents to a survey carried out by the charity Hourglass, which campaigns for a safer ageing society,  did not see family members trying to change the Wills of older people as abuse.  34.9% of respondents did not view “taking money from an older relative’s bank account without asking” as abuse.  39.3% of respondents did not see that “taking precious items from an older person’s house without asking” might also be abusive.

We often think of cold callers and online stranger scammers as posing a significant financial risk to vulnerable older people.  Sadly, that is not the case.  The 2007 Help the Aged research referred to previously, found that 54% of abuse was carried out by trusted family members and 31% by carers or friends.

Why was this case not a ‘win’?

In the case of Angela Wright, her daughter Olivia only discovered that her inheritance had been squandered when her mother died.  It will have complicated the process of grieving for her – as well as being incredibly stressful and expensive –  to have immediately had to bring legal proceedings against her own family.  Her ‘win’ is to have been embroiled in litigation for years in order to recover her inheritance.  She should recover most, but not all, of her own legal fees.  Whether her deceptive sister and former brother-in-law have the funds to repay her is another matter.  She should, broadly speaking, be put back in the position she would have been in when her mother died 5 years ago.  It’s difficult to see that as a win from anyone’s point of view.

What can we do to stop this sort of abuse?

More generally, what does this story and the research tell us?  Financial abuse of the elderly is still not properly understood or taken seriously in society.  Perpetrators of financial abuse often justify their actions from a sense of entitlement – “I’ll inherit it anyway” or “I deserve it for helping” or “they don’t need it anyway”.  Those attitudes need to change.

For this reason, I believe that the law should be changed to disqualify persons from inheriting from an estate if they have been involved in the abuse, neglect or financial exploitation of the deceased.

Sarah Young – Solicitor & Director