Siblings in £20 million court battle over fortune of their interior designer father

Courtenay Inchbald faces a legal battle with his sister over control of her father's fortune
Paul Keogh

The children of a celebrated interior designer who worked on the QE2, Claridge’s and the Savoy Hotel are locked in a £20 million court battle over his fortune.

Michael Inchbald left one of London’s grandest private houses and the financial legacy of a hugely successful career behind when he died aged 92 in 2013.

His children — son Courtenay, 57, and daughter Amanda, 56 — are now fighting over control of his fortune.

Mr Inchbald left a will which said his money should be split equally between his two children.

But Courtenay claims their father had wanted a limit put on Amanda’s access to his cash because he did not believe she could “deal with it”.

He said an earlier will stated his side of the family would inherit the entire fortune when Amanda dies, the High Court heard.

Amanda told Judge John Martin QC: “Courtenay was involving himself in my father’s affairs and what my father should do. There was always an edge, growing up with Courtenay, that he had to have more.”

Contest: Amanda Inchbald is fighting her brother in the courts 
Paul Keogh

Mr Inchbald designed the main first-class saloon on the QE2, the penthouse at Claridge’s and the American Bar at the Savoy. He lived in a Grade II listed building in Kensington.

Amanda told the court she had had an “uncomfortable” relationship with her father, who divorced her mother Jacqueline Duncan in the Sixties, but she had still visited him at his home.

In his final will, signed six years before his death, Mr Inchbald said apart from small gifts to others, his fortune should be equally between his children.

It replaced one written in 2005, which gave Courtenay half of the estate, with the other half held on trust for Amanda for life. She could live off the income from around £10 million but the capital would revert to her brother or his children when she died.

Richard Wilson QC, for Courtenay, said Mr Inchbald did not understand the change in his will because he was suffering from dementia. “There is no evidence to show the deceased appreciated he was making such a significant change,” he said.

He also claimed Mrs Duncan, Courtenay and Amanda’s mother, had been instrumental in the change as she is closer to her daughter.

“She had, since at least 1996, encouraged the deceased to divide his estate equally between Amanda and Courtenay,” said Mr Wilson.

Amanda countered the claim, saying her father “was very particular, he wouldn’t be pushed around.

“He wanted to dot the I’s and cross the T’s and he checked everything to the nth degree.

“I never spoke to my father about his financial affairs or his will.”

Peter John, representing Amanda, conceded there are “poor family relations” but said the equal spilt of the fortune was not unusual.

“To some extent, it is unclear why Courtenay is pursuing his counterclaim, other than to place himself in some position of advantage or control over Amanda,” he added.

As well as his work on hotels, Mr Inchbald was also commissioned for work at stately homes and reportedly consulted about changes to the decoration at Buckingham Palace.

The hearing at the High Court continues.

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