Melanie’s story: Securing $453,000 for a stepdaughter left out of her stepfather’s estate

Our client’s story

Our client’s stepfather died unexpectedly at 65, two years after her mother died at the same age. He had no biological children. For more than a decade, he had been the person our client and her five daughters depended on.

“My stepfather unexpectedly passed away at 65. My mum had passed at 65 two years beforehand. I had relied heavily on [him] … I was in an interdependent relationship with him due to over a decade of myself and my daughters having to flee domestic violence and [him] supporting us through that; we relied on him financially and emotionally, and we were broken upon his death.”

He had not spoken to his four siblings in over a decade. After his death, they moved to take control of his estate.

A will that couldn’t be found

Our client had always understood that her stepfather had made a will and that she would be provided for. His siblings said no will existed.

“He had no biological children and hadn’t spoken to his four siblings in over a decade. They wanted to take his whole estate, and I felt this was wrong as I believed a will had been written, as [he] had told me this many times over the years and that I would be benefiting from it. But his siblings claimed there was no will. Upon his death, they entered his house before I had a chance and took all his paperwork, and I still believe to this day they took his will and claimed there was none.”

The dispute extended to the funeral itself. After our client spoke with the coroner’s office, she was advised to seek legal help.

“After speaking with the coroner and being told about his siblings’ actions regarding his funeral, including their refusal to arrange it, I was made senior next of kin so we could have a funeral for him as he deserved. The coroner also told me they believed his siblings’ actions could be will-related and advised me to seek legal advice. I contacted GMP Law, explained my situation, and they said I definitely had a case, so we began the process.”

Choosing a firm to represent her

When asked why she chose GMP Law for her contesting wills matter, our client said the firm’s reputation, reflected in its online reviews, gave her confidence in choosing GMP Law. She also described the staff as having a “lovely and understanding demeanour.”

She came to the firm carrying more than a legal problem. At the time, she was a single mother of five young children, living in safe housing after surviving domestic abuse.

“I experienced extreme hostility from [his] siblings, and as a survivor of domestic abuse, I found this very scary and difficult, especially feeling the need to protect my five children during the process.”

Safety came first

Before the legal arguments could be built, our client first needed to feel safe and supported throughout the process. Given her circumstances, protecting her personal information was an important part of the matter. The team obtained suppression orders so that her name and address would not appear on court documents.

Reflecting on the support she received, she says: “Just the step-by-step explanations and breaking things down simply, the kindness and understanding, and Lisa also helped me to have my address suppressed on all paperwork as I was living in safe housing, which made me feel more comfortable.”

Deputy Managing Partner, Garbis Kolokossian, who led the matter, explains the importance of taking those steps:

“A client can’t give her best evidence while she’s worried about who will read the paperwork. Suppressing her details was a practical necessity. It gave her the security to engage fully with the case, and it meant the other side’s hostility couldn’t follow her home.”

That sense of safety and support remained central to her experience throughout the matter. When asked whether she felt her priorities had been understood, she said:

“Yes, they listened to me extensively. I literally spent hours and hours on the phone with them; my safety and that of my daughters were always made paramount above anything else.”

Building the claim

With no will available, the case became a family provision claim. It did not depend on what her stepfather may have written. It depended on what the law says a fair person in his position should have done.

Garbis explains: “We had to establish that she had a genuine need for financial provision and that she had been dependent on the deceased. We also had to consider whether a just and fair testator in the deceased’s circumstances would have made provision for her. The relationship he had with her and her daughters over more than a decade was an important part of that assessment.”

The administrator of the estate contested that relationship from the start. They denied that our client was his stepdaughter and denied that her mother had lived with him in a de facto relationship, pointing to records suggesting he had been living with someone else at the time.

“When the other side disputes the relationship itself, everything rests on evidence. Photographs, and the messages exchanged between our client, her stepfather and his former partner gave a clear and contemporaneous picture of the family they had been. We set that evidence out carefully in her affidavit from the very beginning, so the strength of her claim was clear from the outset.”

Our client valued the honesty of that advice.

“They explained everything clearly and in simple terms; they never once gave me false hope. They were black and white but still compassionate.”

“They always followed up whenever I made contact,” she adds.

Grief and conflict at the same time

The legal process ran alongside her grief for her stepfather.

“The hostility from his family, the fear of them finding out where I was living, dealing with the grief and loneliness of losing [him] at the same time as fighting his family, trying to make sure things were done as I believed [he] would have wanted.”

Her experience reflects the added complexity of a family provision claim when the dispute also involves conflict with other members of the deceased’s family.