Woman says brother kept proceeds of family home sale

An elderly man has sold the childhood home of himself and his sister at Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, without informing his sister, and has kept the proceeds, the High Court was told yesterday.

Mr Justice Kelly was told Mr Neil Doherty (79) had sold the lands at Eastrock, Ballyshannon, where he and his only sister, Ms Jean McEntee (76), grew up. Although Ms McEntee was entitled to 50 per cent of the proceeds, Mr Doherty had kept the proceeds for himself and, while he had an address at Bundoran, Co Donegal, was out of the jurisdiction, it was claimed.

It was also claimed Mr Doherty appeared to have perjured himself by describing himself on a probate document as the only lawful grandchild of his grandfather, the registered owner of the lands where he and his sister grew up.

Mr Justice Kelly granted an order to Ms McEntee restraining her brother from removing from this jurisdiction any of his assets within this jurisdiction and restraining Mr Doherty from disposing of or dealing with lands at Church Road, Bundoran, Co Donegal.

Mr Doherty has also been directed to disclose to Ms McEntee a written list of his assets, both here and outside the State.

In an affidavit, Ms McEntee, a retired nurse, widow and mother of two, with an address at Tonbridge, Kent, England, said she was born Mary Jane Doherty and was the only sister of the defendant. She said their childhood home was at Eastrock, Ballyshannon, and was now derelict.

Since their father had died, she had always understood that she and her brother owned the Eastrock lands between them.

Since the 1930s, the lands were exclusively occupied by themselves and by others who were given permission to use the land for grazing purposes. The house was boarded up from the 1950s and was derelict.

The last people to live at Eastrock were her brother and his family and she had lived with them for about 18 months around 1946.

Her brother left Ireland around 1950 and went to the US. His family joined him after a year. She had gone to the UK where she married. She had lived there since.

Until very recently, her relations with her brother were very good, Ms McEntee said. The lands at Eastrock were always discussed between them in terms of their being jointly owned. About three years ago, they were offered £80,000 for the lands but the lands were not sold then.

About the end of June 2002, her brother told her he had sold the Eastrock lands and he had €15,000 for her. She asked him how much he had sold the lands for but he would not tell her. She had sought half of the proceeds but he had said he was the one legally entitled to the land as he was the eldest son. She now knew that was incorrect.

She had engaged solicitors to act to protect her interests but they had received no substantive replies to their requests for reassurances and information. She believed her brother was in Ireland in March last but had returned to the US on October 5th last.

She believed he had taken the Eastrock sale proceeds with him and also believed he intended to sell a house at Church Road, Bundoran which he had bought in 1986.

He had told her he would improve on his €15,000 offer to her but she took no comfort from that. She believed he intended to retain the Eastrock sale proceeds for his own benefit.