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Estate Law and Legal procedures
Estate Law is all about what happens when a family member dies and ensuring that their final wishes are followed through with.
It is sad to say, but some families turn on each other when a loved one dies.
In our experience, it is all too common to see siblings ruin their relationships for life-fighting over who gets what from a parent’s estate.
Here at United Legal, we focus on making sure your will is properly drafted to avoid estate law problems that can tear families apart.
Once we have drafted a will for you, we also specialize in ensuring it is followed through.
A Case of Adrian Smith
Ms Smith passed away July 2019 at 90 years of age. She left behind 4 adult children, a bank account, and a house.
Three of her children grieved their mother, buried her according to her wishes, and then started the process of following the will.
The fourth child, Lavender Smith, had not spoken to her mother in 5 years. She, unfortunately, missed the funeral but was on time for the will reading.
She was furious that her brother, Adrian Smith, was appointed as the administrator of her mother’s will.
She immediately hired her own lawyers and tried to remove Adrian and have herself appointed as the administrator.
Over 11 months she tried every trick in the book to get more money than the will said and question every action of Adrian to follow their mother’s last wishes.
She tried to;
- Refuse for the mother’s estate to pay for the funeral and asked why so much money ($3,000) had been spent on the funeral she did not attend.
- She delayed the sale of the house twice as she did not trust her brother to manage the sale
- She forced Adrian to hire a lawyer to defend himself
After 11 months of what could only be called harassment she gave up.
Following the principles of Estate Law, the mother’s assets were divided according to her will.
The value of the property shrunk by $50,000 because the house had been pulled from the market so many times buyers were cautious of offering anything more.
How we helped in this matter?
Here at United Legal, we applied our expertise in Estate Law to protect our client and ensure his mother’s will was administered according to how she wanted it.
If you do not have a will we recommend drafting one to provide guidance to your family members on how you want your estate divided.
If you do have a will we also are willing to review it for you to say how well it protects from people like Lavender.
Finally, if something like this is happening to you, we can help
UNITED LEGAL
Wills and Estate Lawyers Canberra
For our legal support services Contact us at (02) 6295 2283
Visit us at
54-56 Townsville St, Fyshwick ACT 2609
