H. L. v Bank of Ireland

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: Mr. Justice Costello
• Judgment Date: 27 July 1978
• Neutral Citation: 1978 WJSC-HC 2873
• Docket Number: No. 346 sp./1977
• Court: High Court
• Date: 27 July 1978

L v. BANK OF IRELAND

IN THE MATTER OF THE SUCCESSION ACT 1965, SECTION 117

IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF F.F., DECEASED.

BETWEEN:

H.L.

Plaintiff.

and

THE GOVERNOR AND COMPANY OF THE BANK OF IRELAND

Defendants.

AND BETWEEN

M.F., G.F., and R.F. and the same Defendants.

1978 WJSC-HC 2873

No. 346 sp./1977

THE HIGH COURT

1 Judgment of Mr. Justice Costello delivered the 27th day of July, 1978.

2 The Plaintiffs" evidence in these cases unfolds a family history which is tragic and distressing. They are the children of a father (the testator) whose conduct to them was harsh, frequently cruel, and neglectful to a degree that could well have been pathological. Their claim is that he failed in his moral duty to make proper provision for them according to his means by his will or otherwise, and it is a claim which quite clearly succeeds. Fortunately, it is not necessary for me to recount in this judgment all I have been told in the course of these proceedings, but I should make clear that I accept as true all the evidence I have heard concerning the testator's conduct and his attitude to his children. However, in order to explain the order I propose to make I must briefly summarise the salient facts of the testator's family life and the present circumstances of his surviving children, in so far as these are relevant to the operation of the provisions of section 117 of the Succession Act, 1965, under which these proceedings have been brought.

3 The testator owned a considerable amount of good agricultural land. He regarded himself as a gentleman farmer, but his great interest in life (which was of obsessive proportions) was for horses, which he bred, trained, bought and sold. He was an accomplished horseman, winning prizes in the R.D.S. jumping competitions and at shows throughout the country. He married in 1934, but his behaviour to his wife forced her to leave him and her family in the year 1947. There were five children of the marriage; Maurice (who is called "Pete" by his family) was born on the 24th March 1935; Helen, on the 3rd September 1937; Robert, on the 24th November 1938; Gerald, on the 6th March 1942, and Garret, on the 8th March 1944. None of them received a proper education (although the testator had the financial resources to provide it); he physically ill-treated them; by his attitude to them he drove each of them out of his house in their middle teens, unqualified for anything but the most menial work, and unprovided for.

4 Maurice, the eldest, left home first. Unfortunately he developed symptoms of mental illness and as far back as 1960 a well-known Dublin doctor wrote to the testator urging the necessity to get specialised medical care for him. The testator ignored this warning and at the time of his death Maurice was suffering to a serious degree from paranoid schizophrenia and was (and, unfortunately, still is) incapable of managing his own affairs. For long stretches of his life Maurice has lived the life of a vagrant. He has no means and is unmarried. The testator made no proper provision for him during his life.

5 Helen went to England at the age of 17 - like her brothers being driven from the home by her father. He gave her £3 when she left and a neighbour drove her to the boat at Dublin. She worked as a maid. She completed a secretarial course, took up nursing, became a dental assistant and later qualified as a specialist laboratory assistant. She obviously showed great initiative and moral courage. She married in 1959 and has three children. Her husband is an executive engineer in the Post Office earning £4,000 per annum and his prospects of significantly increasing his income are not good. She had a serious fall from a horse at the age of 15 and she badly injured her back. Her father refused to get her medical treatment and a neighbour brought her to a bone setter.

6 The neglect of her back (according to the medical evidence which I accept) has had the most serious consequences. She has suffered continually from it, and had to give up work in 1961 due to its painful condition. In 1971 she had an operation which not only failed to cure her back condition but which resulted, due to an error, in the removal of the nerve supply to her bowel and bladder. She had a further operation in November 1977. She is now in a wheel chair and wears a cervical collar. The medical report which has been admitted in evidence indicates that she will have a significant probable 50% permanent disability for life, that she will have permanent back and leg pain and that she has permanent paralysis of the bowel and bladder. Her eldest son is asthmatic, and her daughter suffers from deafness. Because of her disability she cannot work (as she would like to do); cannot do housework and has to employ help in the house, both in the mornings and afternoons. She has shown great fortitude in the face of her many troubles. Her father made no provision for her of any sort after she left home.

7 Robert went to several different schools and considers that he was nearly illiterate when he left home at the age of 17. He, too, went to England, getting work in a canning factory, as a bus conductor, as a general labourer. Through the intercession of the family solicitor his father paid £150 to help him train as a ship's radio operator. This was the only provision the testator made for him. He had nervous trouble and was unable to continue this work. He worked again in England and in Dublin at different jobs. In 1975 he left Ireland and went to Italy where he worked in monasteries until he learnt of his father's death. Since then he has done no work. He has helped look after his sister's children and does not know how he will utilise the legacy his father left him. He is unmarried.

8 Gerald was first sent to boarding school at the age of 5. After attending a number of schools his formal education was stopped by his father at the age of 15. He was required to stay at home and acted as a stable boy and farm labourer. He, too, injured himself in a riding accident and his injury was neglected and he still suffers from it. He, too, got regular beatings from his father. At the age of 16 he was given £10 and told to leave home. He worked at many different jobs in England; for a time he worked as a labourer on building sites and motorways, and for a time he was in the army. He managed to save enough to start up a taxi business. Whilst engaged in this he was arrested and charged in 1970 with receiving stolen goods. He was found guilty and was given a lengthy prison sentence, of which he served 6 years. He wishes to return to this country and work in agriculture. His father made no proper provision for him during his life.

9 Garret was the youngest son. He, too, went to England when very young, where he married and had two children. Whilst on a visit to this country in July 1971, he,...