Our client was one of five children left out of his father’s will. Our client decided to pursue the option of contesting a willbecause he felt that there was nothing he had done in his relationship with his father which would disentitle him from inheriting from his father’s estate.
Our client had a good relationship with his father as he was growing up. After our client got married he stayed in close contact with his father and they would see each other every weekend. This changed when our client decided to report to police that his uncle had assaulted him when he was a young child. Our client’s father refused to support him throughout the trial, and this drove a wedge between our client and his father.
Our client did not have any savings nor did he own any substantial assets in his own name. Our client also had some medical issues including mental health from the abuse he suffered as a child.
Our client approached Gerard Malouf and Partners approximately seven months after his father had passed away. A conference was arranged for our client to meet with Garbis Kolokossian, one of the experienced solicitors in our Contested Wills team, to discuss the possibility of contesting a will. Garbis took the time to listen to our client and to understand the circumstances of his claim. Garbis put the Estate on notice of our client’s claim and filed proceedings in the Supreme Court of NSW shortly thereafter.
After the trauma our client had suffered throughout his life he was not keen on going to court. Therefore, we arranged a mediation to try and settle our client’s matter out of court. Throughout the mediation Garbis fought hard to secure the best result possible for our client and to avoid going to court. Our client was ecstatic when the Estate made an offer of $80,000 to settle his claim. Our client understood that this offer would not have been made if it was not for the hard work and persistence of Garbis throughout the matter and
