Probate dispute concerns application of primogeniture

A family probate dispute over the inheritance of a £1.5 million Jacobean estate is underway, hinging on the application of primogeniture traditions.

Rupert St John Webster claims the rights to his grandparents' estate, alleging that his deceased father had intended him to carry on the family tradition of passing to the family's next rightful family heir.

However, two of his aunts and an uncle dispute this claim on The Priory, a 17th century West Country manor house, suggesting the grandparents had intended it to be shared among Mr Webster's siblings.

Contesting the terms of the trust, he claims his father made assurances about inheritance of the estate as far back as the 1970s.

Mr St John Webster told the Daily Telegraph: "He wanted to keep the place going through the generations," claiming that members of his family have since changed some of the legal documents.

Barrister for aunt Alison Virginia Ashcroft, David Grant, told the central London court: "If anyone was guilty of undue influence, it wasn't the defendants it was the claimant (Rupert)."

Published by Tessa Jones