Rita said her brothers had put her through "years of hell"
A woman has won a £1 million inheritance battle against her three brothers, a case which has gone on for eight years.
Rita Rea cared for her elderly mother until her death.
However, she feared she would become “homeless and bankrupt” after her brothers accused her of pressuring their mother Anna into cutting them out of the £1 million fortune.
The High Court heard the brothers had been disinherited because they “abandoned” their mother and had barely helped with her care.
On the other hand, Rita moved into her mother’s home to care for her.
Remo, Nino and David first took legal action after their mother died in 2016.
But the Court of Appeal finally ruled that Rita had not pressured her mother to sign her London home over to her.
Rita’s lawyers said the landmark legal ruling will better protect others from “anyone coming out of the woodwork and expecting a quick buck”.
Rita said her brothers had put her through “years of hell” over the “outrageous” claims.
She owes her lawyers more than £280,000 in legal fees but her brothers are likely to be ordered to pay the bill.
Her solicitor, Paul Britton, said the ruling was “a good day for those who are there for their loved ones at the end of life – and a bad day for anyone coming out of the woodwork and expecting a quick buck”.
In 2016, the brothers claimed their sister had pressured their mother to write a new will a year before her death. However, their claims were rejected.
The brothers successfully appealed on a technicality and won a retrial in July 2023, with a High Court judge ruling that Rita had “coerced” their mother into cutting her sons out of the will.
This meant the estate would be split four ways.
Rita almost saw her inheritance completely extinguished by the bills of the long-running case.
In the 2023 decision, Judge David Hodge KC said the evidence suggested Rita had exercised “undue influence” over her frail mother such that she was “overborne”.
In his judgement, he said: “First, there is Anna’s frailty and vulnerability.
“Wheelchair-bound, hard of hearing, and requiring constant care and attention, Anna’s quality of life was limited.”
“She seemed to spend much of her life colouring in children’s books.
“This is to be contrasted with what I find to be Rita’s argumentative and forceful personality and her forceful physical presence.”
After being given 21 days to challenge the decision, Rita appealed, leading to the landmark ruling by Lord Justice Newey, Lord Justice Moylan and Lord Justice Arnold.
It was ruled that the previous judge had been wrong to suspect Rita of pressuring her mother just because she had a “forceful personality” and a “physical presence”.
They also said that the fact that the mother was dependent on her daughter did not make the change of the will suspicious.
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