Charity wins court battle for cricket fans £180,000 fortune he left in homemade will scrawled on the back of a Mr Kipling mince pies and frozen fish boxes
A charity has triumphed in a court bid to claim the £180,000 fortune of a cricket fan who left an unusual and homemade last will - scrawled on the back of boxes for Mr Kipling mince pies and frozen fish.
A charity has triumphed in a court bid to claim the £180,000 fortune of a cricket fan who left an unusual and homemade last will - scrawled on the back of boxes for Mr Kipling mince pies and frozen fish.
Malcolm Chenery, a self-professed loner who said he enjoyed the best times of his life at York Cricket Clubs ground with his mother, ended his own life in 2021.
He left behind his three-bedroom house as well as money, plus jewellery that came from his mother and an extensive collection of ornaments and pottery.
Shortly before his death, he made a unique last will, the first page of which was handwritten on the back of a Youngs frozen fish fillets box - while the second page on cardboard from a Mr Kiplings mince pies box.
The testament expressed Mr Chenerys wish that his house and the rest of his worldly goods - worth about £180,000 - go to the British Diabetic Association, after he previously lost family members to the condition.
Cricket fan Martin Chenery left an unusual last will, scrawled on the back of boxes for Mr Kipling mince pies and frozen fish
Londons High Court has ruled on whether his desire to leave his fortune to the British Diabetic Association was valid, because his comments were spread across two different boxes
York Cricket Club fan Mr Chenery bequeathed his three-bedroom house as well as money, plus jewellery that came from his mother and an extensive collection of ornaments and pottery
But the charity came up against a legal roadblock when they tried to admit the homemade will to probate, because the two pages it was written on were from different food boxes.
The second page had been legally witnessed and signed by Mr Chenerys neighbours.
Yet the first page - stipulating the house and contents should go to the charity - could not be automatically read as being part of the same document because it did not come from the same Mr Kipling box, lawyers told Londons High Court.
Sam Chandler, representing the charity, last week asked High Court judge Master Katherine McQuail to rule that the will satisfied the requirements of the 1837 Wills Act and could be entered into probate allowing the money to be claimed.
If it were rejected, the money would have been divided between his sisters and nieces.
He was said to have had long-standing bad blood with those members of his family and did not want to leave them anything, according to his food packaging will.
The court heard that Mr Chenery instead intended to leave all his worldly goods to the diabetes charity.
He also set out what he wanted to happen to his body, adding: My wish is to be cremated and any ashes to be buried or scattered at York Cricket Club, me and my mothers favourite day out.
The charitys barrister, however, told the judge that the attesting witnesses to the will say they did not see the first page when signing the second.
That, along with the fact that two different cardboard food boxes were used to make the two sheets of the will, led to questions being raised when the BDA tried to admit it to probate.
Mr Chandler said: The principle question for the court is whether these pieces of cardboard can be admitted to probate in solemn form.
The second page was witnessed and signed by Mr Chenerys neighbours, but the first could not be automatically read as part of the same document because it was from a different box
Martin Chenery wrote that he wanted his ashes to be scattered at York Cricket Club (pictured), describing the place as me and my mothers favourite day out
The second question is how the Wills Act operates when the will is contained on disconnected pieces of paper (and) whether the form of the will and the manner of execution complies with the formal requirements of the Wills Act 1837.
He went on to say the charitys claim was uncontested and that the BDA had support of family members in its bid to get the money, despite the fact that they would inherit if the will were found to be invalid and Mr Chenery ruled intestate.
Mr Chandler added: Various family members have explained that diabetes runs in the family, hence why he named the claimant charity as his principle beneficiary.
Urging the judge to approve the unusual will, the barrister insisted: The testator is treating this document as a composite whole.
The two pages are written in the same pen. That seems to indicate they were made at the same time. There is overlapping subject matter.
We say the court should have no hesitation in proclaiming in favour of this document, comprised of two pieces of cardboard.
An intestacy would frustrate the testators intentions in light of what the family say about his intentions.
He said there was a longstanding principle that the court should lean against intestacy.
Master McQuail, giving judgment and approving the unusual will, said: The deceased - we must presume - created this document at home from two pieces of cardboard, both cut from food packaging, one from a Youngs fish fillets box and the other from a Mr Kipling mince pies box.
He had not intended to die intestate. His family were not close and he would not have wanted his possessions to go to them. His family had a history of diabetes, which explains why he made the testamentary instructions that he did.
The key issue here is the disconnection of the two sheets of cardboard.
Malcolm Chenery described in his handwritten will his love of York Cricket Club
The document is clearly intended from its context to be a will. It was described to the witnesses as a will.
The way in which the witnesses described the document in my judgment clearly amounts to an acknowledgment by the deceased sufficient to satisfy the Wills Act.
It was intended to dispose of that which the deceased owned. The court should not try to frustrate the testators wishes as endorsed by the documents.
The judge concluded: I feel satisfied that the two documents should be admitted in solemn form to probate as the last will of the deceased.
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Londons High Court (pictured) has ruled that the British Diabetic Association should be able to receive Martin Chenerys bequest
