82-year-old "recluse" Richard Joy bequeathed a house worth £650,000 to Ukrainian waitress Maria Romanyshyn, whom he met in a cafe. Despite the fact that the man's family won a fierce court battle for the inheritance to recover the property, the Ukrainian woman said she has no intention of leaving. This is reported by UNN with reference to Dailymail.
Details
Mr. Joy, an eccentric collector of military memorabilia, died in May 2018 after spending his entire life in his family home in Harrow. Its current value is estimated at £650,000. The man never married and had no children. He spent most of his time in the local library and visited the city's "The Upper Crust" cafe three times a week. It was there that he met 38-year-old Maria Romanyshyn.
After Mr. Joy spent some time in the hospital, Maria regularly helped Joy with shopping and everyday tasks.
The Ukrainian woman claimed that she had a close relationship with Mr. Joy, and that he eventually invited her and her family to live with him as a "foster family". According to Maria, the collector eventually decided to give her the house in 2016, "thrusting" the ownership documents into her hands and saying: "The house is yours. I want you to keep the house."
However, Martin Larnie, Mr. Joy's cousin and executor of the will, sued Ms. Romanyshyn. He asked to cancel the donation of the house so that it could be divided according to the terms of the 2011 will.
The Central London County Court received confirmation that less than two years before his death, in 2016, Joy donated his house to Ms. Romanyshyn.
They and their children became the deceased's adopted family, and they also helped and cared for him, but none of them was ever a guardian and never demanded or received money for their care and assistance
But Mr. Larnie's lawyer, Nicklin, suggested that in 2016, Mr. Joy was unable to sign complex legal documents because he "was vulnerable with obvious cognitive impairments and, judging by the medical evidence provided, incapacitated."
Romanyshyn's lawyer denied this, emphasizing that "the deceased played chess with Romanyshyn's eldest daughter before and after the donation agreement, and also watched and was able to follow episodes of Sherlock on television."
The case was heard for a week last month, but the parties eventually agreed to settle their dispute out of court after behind-the-scenes negotiations.
The agreement is partially confidential, but Judge Monty said in his order that he was "satisfied on the basis of the evidence heard during the trial that Richard Anthony Joy's last true will was the will of November 26, 2011."
He said that Ms. Romanyshyn's counterclaim against Mr. Larnie, in which she demanded recognition that she is the owner of Mr. Joy's old house through the 2016 donation agreement, would be "dismissed."
Despite the fact that Romanyshyn gave up ownership of the house, she does not think she has to leave it. She added that Mr. Joy would be "shocked" if he found out that his family had come for the house, because they only showed interest after his death, when it comes to money.
It was his will, why should I leave?" This is Mr. Joy's wish. It was his wish
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