A MILLIONAIRE newspaper proprietor was fighting off constant pain when she drew up a disputed death-bed will, a court has heard.
A judge is being asked to rule on whether the will - which would indirectly benefit Deirdre Romanes's former husband and business partner - should stand.
Mrs Romanes's sister, Elizabeth Smyth, claims that businessman Iain Romanes was able to exert undue influence on his ex-wife when she "lacked capacity."
Mrs Smyth, of Kells, County Meath, Ireland says the will cuts her share by some 40 per cent, compared with a will drawn up two years earlier.
The later will, signed days before 60-year-old Mrs Romanes lost her long battle with cancer in May 2010, left the bulk of her fortune to a trust fund, an arrangement which would also benefit her former husband.
Judge Lord Glennie is being asked to set aside the later will because Mrs Romanes was not fully aware of what she was doing.
The hearing continues, with a probability that Lord Glennie will give a ruling in writing at a later date.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article