Family of Mousetrap star who appeared alongside Richard Attenborough in first run of Agatha Christie’s play win £312,000 inheritance fight after he cut them out of his will to leave it all to his carer
- Peter Bridgmont left entire fortune to his live-in carer and friend upon his death
- The stage and screen actor, who died in 2019, cut his three sons out of his will
- Sons Richard, Andrew and Nicholas Bridgmont claimed entitlement to payout
- Judge Simon Monty QC ruled in brothers favour at Central London County Court, ordering the sale of parents’ former home, where Ms Zammit now lives
- The brothers are set to receive a £312,000 payout after flat sale between them
The sons of an actor who starred in the first run of Agatha Christie’s Mousetrap play have won a £312,000 inheritance fight after he cut them from his will.
Stage and screen actor Peter Bridgmont left his entire fortune, including his west London home, to his live-in carer and friend, Frances Zammit, cutting out his three sons, Richard, Andrew and Nicholas.
Mr Bridgmont, who died aged 90 in 2019, had a role in ITV’s groundbreaking police series Z-Cars in the 1960’s and also carved out a successful career as a theatre director and voice coach.
After working alongside Richard Attenborough in the first season of Agatha Christie’s play, he went on to form a mime troupe and taught acting great Sir Mark Rylance.
Mr Bridgmont, who died aged 90 in 2019, cut his three sons Richard, Andrew and Nicholas out of his will and left his entire fortune, including his west London home, to his live-in carer and friend, Frances Zammit
After the death of his wife Barbara in 2008, he opted to leave his fortune to Ms Zammit.
The case went to court after son Richard, 63, sued Ms Zammit with his brothers supporting him in the witness box, claiming that they were entitled to a pay out.
Judge Simon Monty QC ruled in their favour at Central London County Court, ordering the sale of their parents’ former home, where Ms Zammit currently lives, in order to hand the brothers a £312,000 payout.
He ruled that the brothers were entitled to the money as they had not received the legacy their mother had left them upon her death, and that it would have come from her share of the couple’s home.
The ruling means that Ms Zammit will have to vacate the property so that it can be sold.
The court heard that the couple had spent most of their married life in Balham, south London, but sold up in 2003 in favour of an apartment in Ealing High Street, west London.
Mrs Bridgmont died in 2008 and two years later, Mr Bridgmont’s carer and friend, Ms Zammit, moved into the flat with him.
In 2015, Mr Bridgmont made a will which cut his three sons out of his fortune – the value of which is ‘uncertain’ – to leave everything to Ms Zammit. He died four years later.
Judge Monty has ordered the sale of the flat (pictured) so that the funds can be split between the three brothers and Ms Zammit
The case was brought by Richard, who acted as administrator of his mother’s estate, with evidence provided by his two brothers.
The court heard that the brothers received nothing upon their mother’s death and thought there was nothing to pass down.
But when copies of her own will emerged, the sons realised they had been entitled to a payout as she had owned half of their parents’ flat.
In it, she had left her sons a payout between them to the inheritance tax threshold of the time.
Speaking in court, son Andrew, 62, said: ‘I was naturally hopeful that this might result in a fairer outcome in terms of the inheritance, as prior to seeing the will I had assumed all of the family money was in Dad’s estate and that Frances would inherit in the way Dad had set out,’ he explained.
‘The arrival of Mum’s will was a significant change.
‘It seemed to me it felt like not only the possibility of a financially fair outcome, but also a feeling that Mum had stepped in to rectify things.
‘Her voice was not always sufficiently heard in my view and this seemed therefore to be a positive development.’
Ms Zammit fought their claim, arguing that the brothers had received what they were due when their late father gave them £120,000 each after their mother died.
Mr Bridgmont had a role in ITV’s groundbreaking police series Z-Cars in the 1960’s and also carved out a successful career as a theatre director and voice coach
He starred alongside Richard Attenborough in the first run of Agatha Christie’s legendary Mousetrap play – pictured are the first cast
She claimed the money was intended to make up for Mrs Bridgmont having nothing left to give when she died.
However, Judge Monty ruled that the brothers are entitled to a payout.
‘I have little doubt that Richard was right when he said that he was not happy when Peter made a new will leaving everything to Ms Zammit,’ he said.
‘My impression of the evidence from all three sons was that they felt disinherited by this’.
He added that the payments given to the brothers by their late father gave misunderstanding to the true legal position, which was that she had owned half the flat when she died.
The couple owned the flat as ‘tenants in common’ and not ‘joint tenants’ meaning that Mrs Bridgmont’s share did not automatically pass to her husband when she died.
Instead, her share of the flat remained in her estate, meaning there was a substantial asset with which to fund the £312,000 legacy to her children.
Her eldest son Richard did not known there was anything in his mother’s estate, and did not know he had been named executor due to ‘assumptions and errors’.
Judge Monty also found that the brothers had not agreed to vary their mother’s will when accepting the gift of £120,000 from their father.
‘It is clear – and I so find – that there was no connection between the payments of £120,000 and Barbara’s legacy, and there was no agreement by Richard, Andrew and Nicholas, or any of them, to vary Barbara’s will,’ he said.
‘Richard Bridgmont is entitled to the declaration sought in respect of the payments, that they were gifts and were not made in satisfaction of Barbara’s legacy.
‘This is because it is clear, on the evidence, that there was no variation of Barbara’s will, and the payments were made by Peter and had nothing to do with Barbara’s will or Barbara’s legacy.’
Judge Monty ordered the sale of the flat so that the profits can be divided between the brothers and Ms Zammit. The siblings share will amount to £312,000.
Similar flats have marketed at around £750,000 in recent years.
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