A window cleaner who says he gave away his dead brother’s fortune to the poor in gold coins faces a £250,000 bill after a judge ordered him to repay his family.
Peter Ivory, 58, from Hendon, London, claims he ‘did the right thing’ by following tube driver Mick’s wishes not to let the rest of the family access the £414,000.
He said Mick disapproved of much of them and was adamant on his death bed his money should instead go to the ‘hard-working poor and homeless’.
After receiving Mick’s £414,000 fortune, Ivory says he converted most of the £367,000 left after expenses into gold coins.
He said he handed them out to the poor on the streets of Cambridge, the Isle of Wight and Scotland.
But because Mick had died without making a will, the cash should legally have been split with other members of the family, the High Court in London heard.
Ivory has been told he committed a ‘monumental breach’ of his duty as administrator of Mick’s estate and has to stump up the cash he owes his relatives.
Peter Ivory (pictured with wife Jackie), 58, from Hendon, London, claims he ‘did the right thing’ by following tube driver Mick’s wishes not to let the rest of the family access the £414,000
After receiving Mick’s (centre) £414,000 fortune, Ivory says he converted most of the £367,000 left after expenses into gold coins
Judge Timothy Bowles said: ‘You may think you took a moral position but what you have actually done is deprive other people of money that is actually theirs, and that is not a moral position.’
It means Ivory will have to hand over about £100,000 to his brother Alan, £95,000 to another brother John and £50,000 to his nephew Michael.
The court heard Mick died without making a will aged 61 in November 2018 and Ivory handled his affairs and arranged the sale of his home in Wallington, Surrey.
The estate included the sale of the house, his Lurcher dog Lady and a collection of rare Osmond Family memorabilia, bought by his wife Pat who died in 2014.
Under normal intestacy laws – which apply when someone dies without making a will – Alan, John and Michael expected to share the money with Ivory.
Ivory said Mick disapproved of much of the family (pictured, nephew Michael) and was adamant on his death bed his money should instead go to the ‘hard-working poor and homeless’
Ivory will have to hand over about £100,000 to his brother Alan (left), £95,000 to another brother John (right) and £50,000 to his nephew, Michael
But Ivory told the court he had been holding his brother’s hand as he lay dying in hospital and Mick had been adamant his money should go to the poor.
He said: ‘Mick told me to keep it all and, if I couldn’t keep it, to give it away. His whole plan was to make sure they didn’t get it.’
He said he passed on the memorabilia to the Osmonds fan club, took in the dog, handed out a few small gifts to others and converted most of the rest to gold coins and handed out the fortune across the country.
The case ended up in court after a claim was made by brothers Alan and John and nephew Michael to their share of the estate.
When the dispute first blew up, Ivory wrote to his brother Alan, saying Mick ‘made me promise not to give his well-earned money [to] the rest of the family’.
The court heard Mick (left, with wife Pat) died without making a will aged 61 in November 2018 and Ivory handled his affairs and arranged the sale of his home in Wallington, Surrey
Mick’s estate included the sale of his house, his Lurcher dog Lady and rare Osmond Family (pictured, Pat with Jimmy Osmond) memorabilia, bought by his wife Pat who died in 2014
In court, Ivory accepted what he did was against the law but insisted considered the rest of the family were ‘entitled to nothing’ morally.
He said: ‘Mick worked his whole life, 40 years on the underground, for that money. I couldn’t give them his money.
‘They didn’t sit holding his hand as he was dying. They didn’t hear what he said to me.
‘He told me what he wanted to do. I thought my responsibility was to follow my dying brother’s wishes. I made a mistake, but I didn’t make a mistake as far as my brother is concerned.’
Ordering he hand over the cash to Alan, John and Michael, the judge told Ivory he had committed a ‘monumental breach of his duty as administrator’.
He said: ‘You knew that they had legal entitlements, but you decided that, because your brother had expressed certain wishes, you weren’t going to comply with the law.
‘What you have done – and have decided to do – is think ”I don’t think much of the people legally entitled to this money and so I am going to give it to someone else”.’
As well as ordering him to hand over £245,000 to the other family members, the judge ordered Ivory to pay their lawyers’ bills – estimated at about £10,000.
He said: ‘This entire litigation has been caused by Mr Ivory’s decision to do what he did.
‘Legally speaking, it was completely wrong from beginning to end. None of this would be happening were it not for that election that he made.
‘Everything which has had to be done has been done consequent upon his behaviour, and ergo he must pay the costs.’