It seems that, unhappy with her share of the estate after the death of a loved one, Diane Coad brought a claim for further provision, and lost. The stepchildren had racked up £100,000 of costs which she was then liable to pay. Unable to do so, her attempt to obtain greater provision has caused her to lose her home, and be £100,000 out of pocket. The Court took the view that she had no other way of paying this debt, than to sell the property.
Litigation is always a last resort, and expert counsel should be obtained before issuing Court proceedings, which always bring the possibility of adverse costs in their tens of thousands. Sometimes the potential gain is simply not worth the risk.
I seek to guide my clients to a resolution through negotiation, mediation and constructive correspondence. And sometimes, hard though it may be to hear, the advice might be that the matter should not be progressed as it has insufficient merit.
Judge orders former Stourbridge parliamentary candidate to quit her £800,000 home
A former model who came within a whisker of becoming MP for Stourbridge is about to be turfed out of her £800,000 home after losing an inheritance battle with her stepchildren. Diana Coad, who stood for the Tories in Stourbridge at the 2005 General Election, has been told the house left to her by her husband Peter Dale-Gough will be sold, despite begging the judge to please help me in a handwritten letter. Miss Coad, 71, lived at the four-bedroom property in Slough with her husband until his death in August 2013. Mr Dale-Goughs will granted his wife the right to live in the house for the rest of her life.
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