Testimonials

Fraud and forgery

Where do I start? This was a case of epic proportions loaded with allegations about the possession of sizeable quantity of illegal drugs, fraud, forgery, bankruptcy, money trails, collusion, an unproven arson, cover ups and the Supreme Court.

Lesson 1. If your son or daughter is a bankrupt or a spendthrift, you need to change your Will to disinherit them. If you die, and your son or daughter is a bankrupt, their share in your estate will not pass to that child as intended but go to that child's Trustee in Bankruptcy to be used to pay his or her creditors and the usually large costs and expenses of the bankruptcy administration.

Lesson 2. If you are a bankrupt and your parent dies leaving you an inheritance, be warned, do not attempt to forge your parent’s Will. You will get caught. A skilled handwriting expert has the forensic and technical skills to prove the new Will is a forgery.

In this case ten minutes before the trial was about to start the bankrupt’s counsel informed the Supreme Court trial Judge that he would not challenge the claim that he had forged the final Will. As a result the previous Will, in which he was left 80% of an estate worth over $4 million, was re-instated. The bulk of his share then went to his Trustee in Bankruptcy.

My father remarried

I am one of five children. My mother died and my father remarried when I and my siblings were adults. I am 55 years old and my sisters, brother and I have very little money between us. In dad’s will, Dad gave his second wife the right to live in the family home until she died, remarried, repartnered or left the home and after that the Estate was left to me and my siblings. After dad’s death, our step mother wanted to sell the home and go live in a retirement village which was not permitted under the terms of the Will. The will was challenged by our step mother to change the terms of the will. We wanted to uphold the terms of the Will, but when faced with the reality of having to go to Court with many witnesses having to give evidence in Court, we did the best we could do at mediation and settled.

My partner died not making a will

My partner died of cancer. He was 31 years old. His passion in life was hot rods. It was a passion he shared with his father. He did not make a will. As his fiancé and partner I inherited the whole estate. Because he did not make a will, this caused a lot of unnecessary grief between me and my father in law in settling the Estate. We did settle on good terms. Thank you to my solicitor, Brett Hayton, and my barrister.

A Carer

It just seems to be one of those unpleasant facts of life, when someone close to you makes a Will and and the will is very clear that you are the sole beneficiary, the law allows and permits the Will to be challenged by people who think they should have been provided for in the Will. When that happens you are faced with the very awkward choice of fighting the challenge in Court or accepting a compromise in a Mediation. I chose the latter so I could bring closure to what could have been a long, emotionally exhausting and expensive legal battle. I thank my legal team for their support advice and good counsel.