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Daughter Succeeds in Contesting a Will Where There is No Will and a Small Estate

A man in New South Wales dies without a Will leaving behind a de-facto spouse of 25 years and 3 adult children. His estate was quite modest consisting of a house with a mortgage, some vehicles and a small amount of cash at the Bank. The total value of the estate after all debts were deducted was approximately $240,000.00.

In accordance with the Succession Act of New South Wales when a person dies without a Will, that is they die intestacy, their spouse receives a statutory legacy, in this case equivalent to $430,000.00, plus 50% of the remainder of the estate. The remaining amount is then to be divided equally between the deceased’s children. In this case as the estate was worth less than the value of the statutory legacy, the children of the deceased would have received nothing from their late father’s estate. Upset by this news, a daughter of the deceased contacted Gerard Malouf & Partners to find out if she could make a claim after her father dying without a Will.

Our experienced Will Dispute Lawyers were able to assist on a no win, no fee basis. Our client was receiving the Disability Support Pension and was living in rental accommodation. She was living week to week struggling to meet her bills and put food on the table.

Richele Nelsen, one of our experienced Contesting Wills Solicitors, commenced a Family Provision claim on the estate for our client. Within a few months of the Court proceedings being lodged the parties participated in a settlement conference to negotiate the resolution of our client’s claim. We were able to demonstrate our client’s eligibility as a claimant on her father’s estate and also demonstrate her needs to be financially provided for by the estate.

We were able to negotiate a settlement in favour of our client for $80,000.00. These funds allowed our client to clear her debts and set up her future.

If you have an enquiry about contesting a Will or making a claim on an estate where someone has died without a Will contact our office today to find out if you have grounds for contesting a Will or making a claim on an estate.

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Gerard Malouf & Partners have provided friendly, experienced legal advice to communities across Australia for over 35 years. Our Personal Injury Lawyers have taken on ten’s of thousands of cases and we are proud to have won billions of dollars for our clients.
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Meet the diverse and dynamic team of compensation lawyers and supporting staff that have made this all happen below. Our multi-lingual team can discuss your claims in Arabic, Assyrian, Turkish, Greek, Italian, French, Serbian, Croatian, Armenian, Mandarin, Hindi, Punjabi or Malayalam.
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Meet the diverse and dynamic team of compensation lawyers and supporting staff that have made this all happen below. Our multi-lingual team can discuss your claims in Arabic, Assyrian, Turkish, Greek, Italian, French, Serbian, Croatian, Armenian, Mandarin, Hindi, Punjabi or Malayalam.

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