Businesswoman Lindsay Bisiker has lost a High Court battle with her older half-sister Judith over ownership of Moonhills, a £2.7million family mansion in the New Forest, Hampshire, after arguing the property should be held in trust for all their father's children. The ruling matters because it settles a bitter five-sibling inheritance dispute, confirming that a house registered in one family member's name legally belongs to them outright, even where it was informally treated as a shared family home for decades.

Their father Jim Bisiker, a former Royal Marine turned oil tycoon, bought the six-bedroom house with stables, tennis court and four acres in 1984, registering it solely in Judith's name. Lindsay, 50, said Judith, 63, had been like a "surrogate mum" and that Moonhills was her childhood home and boarding-school base, but Master Matthew Marsh ruled there was no trust, noting a solicitor recalled Mr Bisiker rejecting a formal trust arrangement at the time of purchase, and that his later statements were unreliable due to declining mental capacity. The row escalated after Judith changed the locks in April 2023 while Lindsay was staying there with her dogs ahead of a planned sale, which Judith said was necessary to stop Lindsay frustrating it; Lindsay's claims for a discounted purchase and compensation were rejected.