After a difficult childhood and upbringing our client had a distant relationship with his father. During his upbringing our client assisted his father with his home business and improvements to the family property. Throughout his adult life our client moved around, eventually settling in Queensland whilst his father remained in New South Wales. After a falling out in about 2013 our client had no further contact with his father who died in 2015.
Our client was not notified of his father’s death until many months later. He finally received a copy of his father’s will some six months later which revealed he had been left out of the will. Hurt and upset at his father’s decision to exclude him for the will our client buried his head in the sand before finally speaking to Gerard Malouf & Partners Contesting a Will Lawyers.
By the time our client contacted our office the time period within which a family provision claim is to be lodged (12 months from date of death for NSW estates) had lapsed. We acted immediately to formally commence legal proceedings to protect our client’s interests in respect of a claim on the estate.
GMP Will Dispute Lawyer Richele Nelsen sought leave of the court to extend time for our client’s family provision application and prepared an affidavit of the client setting out the basis of his claim detailing his relationship with his father, his contribution to his father’s estate and his financial and personal circumstances. The affidavit provided evidence that our client was in need financially as he had no savings or assets, was living week to week on a Centrelink Disability Support Pension and had a number of personal loans to be repaid.
We were able to successfully negotiate a settlement of our client’s claim whereby he received an inheritance of $80,000 from his late father’s estate. This result was able to achieved without the need of a lengthy court hearing and our client was able to utilise the funds to clear his debts, purchase a car and set aside some funds to plan for his future.
Have you been left out of a will? Contact Gerard Malouf & Partners Will Dispute Lawyers today to enquire about Contesting a Will on 1800 004 878.