A WEALTHY Sheffield woman contemplated cutting her son out of her multi-million pound estate because of a family rift, London's High Court heard.
The revelations came as judge Mr Justice Newey refused John Kershaw's bid to have his sisters, Julia Micklethwaite and Jennifer Barlow, removed as executors of their mother's estate.
Adrienne Kershaw's estate has been valued for probate at £2.9m,
but her son insists the true value is more like double that. How much he gets depends on the probate value - and a lower valuation will benefit his sisters.
The day before she made her will Mrs Kershaw - who was married to solicitor Frank Kershaw - told a lawyer she felt "a bit cruel" not naming her son as an executor, but added: "I know jolly well he would rule the roost, and that's not right."
Mr Kershaw argued his mother's farm - High Greave, in Dore - could go under the hammer for as much as £3m, and said a block of flats is worth the same.
They have been valued for less, and Mr Justice Newey said there was no reason to find fault with the lower valuations as they were made by professionals.
Mr Kershaw, who lives in France, wanted his sisters as well as his late mother's accountant removed as executors, and replaced by a neutral party.
Under Mrs Kershaw's will, he will receive two fifths of her fortune in cash, while former magistrate Mrs Barlow, of Old Hay Lane, Dore, will get one fifth and Mrs Micklethwaite, of Whitelow Farm, Whitelow Lane, Dore, will get two fifths, both in property.
But Mr Justice Newey concluded: "I have not been persuaded there is good reason for anyone to be removed as executor. The matters on which Mr Kershaw relies don't provide any real basis to suppose the estate will not be administered properly."
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