Former Bailiff’s family sues advocate over wills advice
A GUERNSEY lawyer is being actioned in the Royal Court for damages of more than £500,000 following a dispute centred on the estate of former Bailiff Sir Graham Dorey, who died in 2015.
Three of his four children have alleged negligence and a breach of duty of care against Advocate Raymond Ashton, which they claim led to wills being drawn up and signed by Sir Graham in 2004 when he allegedly lacked the capacity to do so due to ill health.
This, they claim, led to substantial legal costs in a probate dispute with Sir Graham’s second wife and widow, Cicely, and them paying her £375,000 to settle that dispute.
The case, which is denied and will be defended by Advocate Ashton, opened in court with the family seeking £532,260 in damages plus interest and costs.
Sir Graham, Bailiff from 1992-1999, retired at the age of 66 after displaying signs of Alzheimer’s disease. His first wife, Lady Penelope, died in 1996 and he subsequently married Cicely in August 1998.
The family allege in their court papers that prior to the second marriage, Sir Graham and Cicely entered into a pre-nuptial agreement which broadly stated any property they owned would remain separate and neither would have any claim on it.
As Sir Graham’s health continued to deteriorate, he was assessed with clinical dementia and, in 2003, stopped driving because of the difficulty he then had dealing with more than one thing at a time.
By June 2004 his children, Robert Dorey, Jane McLelland, Martyn Dorey and Suzie Vowles, applied to the court for a guardianship order. They claim this was initially opposed by Cicely but later agreed, on the basis Advocate Ashton was appointed guardian.
The plaintiffs, who do not include Mrs Vowles, allege Advocate Ashton was involved in a series of failures in the run-up to and purported execution of the wills, and that this led to an earlier claim in September 2015 seeking to set aside the wills on the basis, among other reasons, that Sir Graham had lacked testamentary capacity.
A settlement was reached five months later in which Cicely was paid £375,000, returned Sir Graham’s house to the family, and renounced any other right or interest in Sir Graham’s estate, including to be shown as executrix of his personal estate.
The damages they seek include legal fees relating to the drafting of the contested wills, fees of more than £145,000 for the probate litigation, and the £375,000 paid to Cicely as part of the litigation settlement.
They allege that Advocate Ashton treated his objective as ‘getting the wills over the line’ – to the benefit of Cicely – rather than properly ascertaining whether Sir Graham had testamentary capacity and acting in his best interest.
The matter was adjourned to be heard at a later date.
