Cases

M’s mother died in 2007 leaving a Will dated six years previously and which left 1/3 of her Estate to each of M, his brother P and sister A.  Michael suffered from anxiety and depression and had been unable to maintain regular employment for many years.  He rented privately and did not have any savings.  He was in receipt of Disability benefits. After a short meeting to obtain the details, we recommended M contest his mother’s Will. Apart from issues that proper and adequate provision (as required under the NSW law when challenging a Will) was not made for M (his financial position being far worse than that of P) we investigated some odd dealings by P under his mother’s Power of Attorney prior to her death. Questions were raised by us in settlement negotiations as to whether a sum of about $200,000 missing from the sale of his mother’s unit before she died was a debt owed to her Estate to which M was entitled as to 1/3 under the Will.  We investigated the documents by obtaining searches at the Land & Property Information Service of New South Wales.  At a Court appointed Mediation, (within seven months of first seeking our help), M settled his will dispute claim a sum of about 45% of the estate. 

K and G’s mother, J died leaving her entire Estate to her second husband, K.  K and G are both adult women.  K was married.  Neither owned their own home and both were in financial difficulty.  K’s husband suffered a severe illness and was unable to work.  K and G sought our advice to contest the Will. K asserted that there was nothing in J’s Estate other than clothing and a small bank account. However, J’s superannuation was worth over $1m and K wanted it all. We advised K and G to challenge the will.  When we investigated the Superannuation Deed and made inquiries as to its provisions, K had to concede that J’s $1 million did form part of her Estate and soon after came to the bargaining table wishing to settle the disputed will claim to avoid further legal costs.  Within six months of seeking our assistance K and G (after coming to us after a bad experience with a larger Sydney firm) each both received over $230,000 from their late mother’s Estate without going to court to contest the will.

C, a resident of New Zealand was her father’s only child.  Her parents separated when she was very young but C maintained a relationship with her father .  He remarried and built up a substantial Estate.  On his death, he left his entire Estate to B his then wife.  B  survived C’s father by only a few years and then left her entire Estate to her boyfriend.  C wanted to contest her father’s will. After leaving her first choice Sydney solicitor to come to us C retained us to challenge her late father’s Will.  Problems arose as the claim against the Estate was commenced outside the 12 month time limit for disputing his will .  Difficult legal issues arose but the matter was successfully settled out of Court on payment to C of $80,000 with the low settlement reflecting the lapse of time between her father’s date in 2000 and when she commenced her claim to contest the Will in 2011.

E, a Vietnamese national married C and came to live with him in Australia.  After an abusive alcohol influenced marriage, E left Charles taking with her their 3 young children.  C died soon after, leaving his entire Estate to his brother and sister but nothing for E and his three young children.  We advised E to challenge the will . The Estate was not a large one but E was successful in obtaining a settlement of her will dispute claim less than 12 months after first coming to see Greg for $125,000 without going to Court.

P came to us wanting to contest the Will of his late mother-in-law S on behalf of his two young children A and J.  R was the only child of S who had died tragically when A and J were very young. P had struggled to raise them since. S died in July 2012 leaving a Will made in 1989 in favour of a friend.  There was no money left for S’s grandchildren A and J.  S’s Estate was valued at over $1 million.  We started action to contest S’s will in early 2013 . In a Mediation in July 2013 the will dispute claim was settled on the basis that each of A and J would receive 14.25% of the net Estate (a sum or an excess of $140,000 each). A’s settlement was held in trust for her until she turned 18 as required by NSW law.

G came to see us in late 2013 wishing to contest his late father’s Will.  G’s father had died recently aged 86 years with six adult children.  G was the youngest.  The Estate was estimated at over $1 million.  G’s father left each of his six children an equal share.  G wished to dispute his father’s Will primarily in the basis that his family’s financial situation had suffered as he had remained in Sydney to care of his late father and his brothers’ and sisters’ financial position was far better than his.  The claim was settled case in May 2015 and G’s family was able to move to Queensland with the settlement money to start a new life.

H was an intellectually disabled adult child aged 32 years when his sister came to us seeking to contest the Will of their late father W.  Henry had never been able to work and had no assets or liabilities.  He had no income and he was totally reliant on his mother for support who was then 72 years of age and with an only income of her age pension.  William had been in a longstanding de facto relationship with H’s mother but they had never married.  H’s parents separated in 1991 and W made no further contact nor offered to assist H’s mother raise the children.  H’s sister investigated and found out in 2006 that their father had died in 2001 (over 5 years previously and outside the time limit to challenge the will) leaving his entire estate to his sister. Even though the disputed will claim was made out of the 12 month time limit we successfully contested W’s Will . After a mediation, H received a life changing settlement plus his legal costs in settlement of his claim.  H was able to challenge his father’s Will even though his claim was brought out of time on the grounds he had a satisfactory explanation ( he was unaware of his W’s death and promptly challenged the Will on becoming aware of his father’s death).