Midland solicitor struck off after falsifying will documents
A Black Country solicitor has beenstruck off after admitting falsifying documents.
James Robb, of Clent, near Stourbridge, made two different accounts of instructions he had received when asked to draw up a will, the Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal heard.
The will, made up on behalf of Miss Margaret Patrick, also of Clent, was subsequently challenged by her relatives and Mr Robb was reported to the Law Society.
Miss Patrick’s nephew, Nick Rowe, from Bournemouth, said his aunt’s last will, drawn up by Mr Robb before her death in 2003, did not reflect her wishes.
The document stated that a quarter share of her estate should be shared among his children, including a daughter, Lucy, from a previous marriage.
But Mr Rowe insisted it was his aunt’s intention that the quarter share would be divided only among the four children from his second marriage to Geovanna.
When the couple challenged the will after being told of its contents they were given two copies of an attendance note made by Mr Robb.
In one he had written that Miss Patrick’s instructions were that a quarter share should go to “N’s children” but the other referred to “N & G’s children”.
Mr Robb claimed the will, which said the money would go to all of Mr Rowe’s children, was in accordance with Miss Patrick’s wishes.
He told the hearing in central London: “My belief is strengthened by the fact Miss Patrick had the draft and made no objection.”
Speaking outside the hearing, Mr Rowe said his aunt, who was a heavy drinker, had had several strokes in the months before being shown the final will and was in no position to give her approval to it. Mr Robb admitted behaving dishonestly in making two contradictory notes but said he had panicked when challenged by the Rowes.
He said: “I have never encountered such aggressive letters from a disappointed beneficiary and I just panicked.”
Mr Robb, who qualified as a solicitor in 1970, worked for George Green solicitors near Birmingham when the will was made.
His solicitor, Robert Ashton, described his actions as a “complete reign of confusion rather than a deliberate intention to deceive”.
Mr Rowe said: “Justice has been done. It gives you some faith in the legal system that in this case it has managed to police itself.”
Mr Robb was struck off and ordered to pay costs of £7,750.
