Our Client, a 65 year old man from Western Sydney, contacted our office to discuss contesting a will following his Father’s death. Our Client’s parents separated when our Client was a teenager. His Father commenced a new relationship and re-married some years later. Sadly, with the commencement of this new relationship our Client’s father essentially cut off contact with his children from his previous marriage, including our Client. Despite making attempts to stay in touch with his Father, they were rejected and as such our Client had no contact with his father for a period of over 20 years.
At the time of his death, our Client’s father held assets worth approximately 1.4 million dollars all of which had been left to his widow. Upon receiving a copy of the will our Client contacted Gerard Malouf and Partners Will Dispute Lawyers to see if he had rights challenging a will. Our experienced will dispute lawyers were able to identify that our client was an eligible person to bring a claim for family provision on the estate of his late father.
Our Client was renting a home in Western Sydney and his only source of income was a Centrelink age pension. He had no superannuation or savings and lived week to week to cover his rent and general living expenses. All of this information and evidence was put into a detailed Affidavit of our Client to support his claim for family provision.
Our Client was one of three siblings making a claim for provision on the estate of his late father. All parties came together to participate in a mediation to see if each respective claim on the estate could be resolved. Several offers of settlement were exchanged between the parties until a final resolution was able to be reached whereby we achieved a result in favour of our Client in the amount of $150,000.
Our Client was ecstatic that such a result could be achieved without the need of going through to a final court hearing and he was able to utilise the funds to pay off his debts and plan for his future.
If you have an enquiry about contesting a will, call Gerard Malouf and Partners Will Dispute Lawyers today on 1800 004 878.
