A mother has lost her appeal to reclaim a loan she made to her son from his estate due to lack of evidence, prompting lawyers to warn parents who informally loan their children money.

In 2005, the claimant loaned her son £170,000 to buy a property; later in the same year, the son repaid his mother £90,000. When the son was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2010 he received over £350,000 in compensation, but on his death in 2016 it was found he had not left provision for his mother. Instead, his estate passed to his wife and various charities, as detailed...