A long-running family dispute over a St Peter farmstead has ended with the Royal Court ordering its sale at public auction – despite one sibling’s claim that he had been promised the property by their late parents.
Edward Le Hegarat had lived and worked at La Presse since he was a teenager, running the farm and later caring for his elderly father.
He argued that his parents had repeatedly assured him the property would be his, and that he had structured his life around that promise, never buying his own home.
However, his three sisters, who jointly inherited the property under their parents’ will and had also worked at the farm previously to “varying degrees”, insisted that La Presse should be sold so they could receive their share of the inheritance.
The Royal Court heard how fairness was a key principle in the Le Hegarat household.
Their mother, Gladys, had gone to great lengths to ensure everything was shared equally between her children – even dividing a bar of chocolate into four equal pieces to avoid arguments.
“Our parents always treated us equally,” one sister, Mary Le Hegarat, recalled in evidence.
“Every night before bed, our mother would make us a hot drink – Ovaltine for Christine and Dacia, and hot chocolate for Edward and me.”
Edward, however, claimed that his parents had promised La Presse to him in 1988, when he agreed to take over the farming business.
He said they later reaffirmed this promise in 1995, 2005, and again in 2018, shortly before his father’s death.
He argued that his sisters had been “unjustly enriched at his expense and it would be unjust for them to retain their interest in the Property”.
But the court found no firm evidence to support Edward’s claim.
His father never changed his will to leave La Presse solely to him, despite multiple opportunities to do so.
The court also noted that Edward had participated in negotiations with his siblings about how the property could be divided, which contradicted his insistence that it was his alone.
“In relation to the promise issue, we do not find that a promise was made to Edward by his parents or, after his mother’s death, his father, in the terms suggested by him. Put another way, we do not find that Edward had a belief, which was known to and encouraged by either of his parents, that he either had or was going to be given a right in or over La Presse,” the Royal Court – consisting of Commissioner Alan Bennington, sitting with Jurats Kim Averty and David Cornish – wrote in its judgment.
“If we were wrong in that finding then, in relation to the reliance issue, we do not find that Edward relied upon or acted to his detriment on the faith of such a belief,” the judgment stated.
Instead of taking legal action immediately after his father’s passing, Edward registered the will along with his sister Christine and took part in discussions about how the estate could be shared.
The court noted that even when disagreements arose about the use of La Presse, Edward objected on the grounds that he “did not want to have strangers living next door”, rather than asserting sole ownership.
Given Edward’s refusal to cooperate with the sale, the Royal Court ruled that La Presse must be sold at public auction within 10 months.
However, the ruling allows the siblings to negotiate a private sale or other settlement in the meantime.
“We recognise that a sale by public auction may result in a less favourable sale price than a private sale,” the court acknowledged. “However, in the event that neither can be achieved, the sale en licitation will proceed.”
If no agreement is reached, the family home and farm will go to the highest bidder.