Brett McLean, known as Lord Brett of Hastings, claimed his mother’s £300,000 estate was bequeathed to him to look after her beloved Amazonian orange-winged parrot. His three step-siblings disputed this, igniting a legal contest over the terms of the will.

McLean insisted his mother wanted him to inherit her estate, largely comprising a property in St Leonards, Sussex, for him to have financial stability while caring for the bird. Initially, a county court backed his claim. His step-siblings appealed, but High Court judge Sir Anthony Mann upheld the previous decision.

Despite previous agreements to split the parents’ estates equally among all children, the mother drafted a new will favouring Brett, her biological son, shortly before her death, sparking the conflict.

During the High Court appeal, the judge rejected the step-siblings’ argument that insufficient weight was given to the “trust” the parents had placed in each other when writing their wills. The judge stated that these were “words of expectation, not agreement”.