Gerard Malouf and Partners were approached by an estranged biological son who was seeking advice on his rights regarding contesting his late mother’s Will. The client’s mother passed away quite suddenly and although our client had not seen his mother for many years, he attempted to keep in contact with her and did his best to maintain their relationship. Despite mentioning our client’s two siblings from a later marriage, there was no mention of our client in the Will.
Being left out of his mother’s Will came as quite a surprise to our client as although he did not see his mother frequently, he tried to keep in regular phone contact with his mother and even visited her occasionally with his children.
We advised our client that he would be able to make a claim under the Family Provisions Act. Our client was deemed an ‘eligible person’ under the act as he was the biological son of the deceased. However we advised him that being the biological son of his Late Mother did not necessarily entitle him to provision of the estate. Rather the court will consider a number of factors when contesting a Will including the relationship between our client and the deceased person, the value of the deceased persons estate and the financial circumstances of our client including his future financial needs etc.
Gerard Malouf and Partners Expert Will Dispute Lawyers were instructed to act on behalf of our client on our No Win No Fee Cost Agreement, in an attempt to contest the Will.
The Will was successfully contested without proceeding to hearing which saved our client the expense and stress of a contested hearing. After some lengthy negotiations and with the assistance of our expert barrister, we were able to settle a sum of $65,000.00 for our client.
Our client was extremely satisfied by not only the outcome but by the fact that we were able to settle the matter before it proceeded to a contested hearing and within five months of our firm taking on his claim.
If you have been unjustly left out of a Will, please do not hesitate to contact the experienced GMP Contesting Will Lawyers for a free consultation on 1800 004 878.
