When our client’s father passed away he left her nothing in his will. The whole of the estate was left to our client’s brother. Our client contacted contesting a will lawyer David Cossalter of our office to contest the will.
Our client and her father had a strained and distant relationship. This was primarily due to the volatile relationship between her parents, a relationship which caused our client to reside in France for the greater part of her childhood. Due to his work commitments, the deceased did not try to make contact with our client and the distance between them grew. However, approximately five years prior to his death they were able to re-establish their relationship and they remained in contact until the date of his death.
The estate was worth close to $1 million and thus could reasonably provide for the needs of both our client and her brother. Needs which required significant analysis before contesting a will.
Our client’s brother suffered from a severe mental illness, and was completely dependant on his father during his lifetime. These factors meant that our client’s brother had a greater claim on their father’s estate. However, this did not completely disentitle our client, as she was still a daughter of the deceased.
Our client also had substantial needs. She was an elderly woman and she had been made redundant. Our client had small amounts of superannuation and had little savings to live off in retirement.
So as to protect her rights, David Cossalter commenced “Contesting a Will” Court proceedings on behalf of our client while continuing negotiations with the solicitors for the estate. This was in the interest of maintaining the relationship between our client and her brother, and resolving the matter promptly.
We were able to settle the matter and secure over 30% of the estate for our client. Our client was very happy with this result and the understanding manner with which contesting a will lawyer David Cossalter was able to handle her matter.
