Our client and his children were left just five per cent of his mother’s estate under her will.
Our client’s mother suffered from a severe mental illness and this rendered his efforts towards a stable mother-son relationship unsuccessful. Our client was keen for his mother to seek care for her mental illness, but he did not have the backing of his siblings in raising this matter. His siblings were scared of upsetting their mother as she cared for them financially and they feared being disinherited.
Our client’s mother would cut him out of her life for many years at a time, and would then randomly call him to re-establish contact. This was understandably very stressful for our client. He did not wish to exacerbate his mother’s mental illness and for this reason he left the frequency of their contact up to her.
Our client made the most of the time which his mother allowed him to spend with her. He would help her with her grocery shopping, perform repairs on her house and invite her over to dine with his family as often as possible.
The deceased originally had a will which provided for a fair distribution of her estate. Approximately two years before she died the deceased formed the view that several people, including our client, were conspiring to kill her. As a result of this view she reduced the entitlement of our client and his children to just 5% of the estate.
Our client is in a financially precarious position, as he and his wife both worked part time. Our client’s brother, who was the main beneficiary under their mother’s will, was physically and mentally disabled. Our client understood that his brother’s needs were greater than his own but felt that he had been unfairly left out of his mother’s will.
Upon receiving instructions in this matter will dispute lawyer Garbis Kolokossian was able to commence negotiations with the solicitors for the executor. Through these negotiations Garbis was able to settle the inheritance dispute within eight months of receiving instructions. Our client received 20% of his mother’s estate, which was a little shy of an equal distribution of the estate between the beneficiaries of the original Will. Upon completion of the case our client had this to say upon completion of his matter:
“I couldn’t have been happier with the services provided by GMP. Garbis always kept me informed, and the result was very pleasing.”
