A cleaner who is fighting for more than £400,000 from the estate of a former Savoy head waiter has won a High Court battle to overturn a will that disinherited her.
Leonora Da Costa, 50, looked after Harold Tickner for years and they developed a close bond.
In 2014 she was written into his will as the main beneficiary of his fortune.
But 16 days before his death in 2015, Mr Tickner gave his £500,000 Harrow home to his nephew, retired barrister Dennis Germain, and made a new will cutting out Mrs Da Costa.
In a High Court hearing about the fortune, Judge William Henderson has now ruled Mr Tickner lacked mental capacity when the document was drawn up and said there was “no real doubt as to the validity” of the 2014 will.
Mrs Da Costa can now challenge Mr Tickner’s decision to gift his home to his nephew through the courts.
That battle will go before another judge at a later date.
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