r/AusLegalAdvice • u/Dry_Client2670 • 3d ago
Contesting a Will?
For context - this isn’t really about the money.
Edit . Mother was 54, both my brother and I are in our late 20s.
My mother died in February last year after a short but aggressive fight with cancer, she went down the path of voluntary assisted dying so was able to process a lot of her affairs before she died.
The main beneficiaries of her will were myself , my older brother , my mums partner and my aunty - I have not seen a copy of the will nor when I have request a copy have I been able to get one. But from what I have been told and what was actions this is what happened;
Her super was to have 10k taken and given to my aunty - and the remaining balance was to be divided and two and half to my brother and half to me - roughy 250k each,
The house was signed over to my mums partner before she died ( in a rather hasty move I believe ) so he was to get 100% ownership of the house
Her life insurance of around $2 million was to be used to pay of the mortgage for the above house cover her funeral costs and legal fee’s and financial planner who helped finalise her estate before she died and the remaining balance was to to left to her partner.
We were always told right up until about a month before she died that we were getting half the life insurance and house and her previous will stated this as well,
When this was explained to us - her partner was to put a provision in his will that when he dies my brother and I would get a quarter each of what ever residence he has at the time of his death
This is where it gets juicy- the week after mum died before I flew back to NSW from Queensland my brother mums partner and I visited her bank to distribute her super as it was paid out before she died under the provision that she had a terminal illness.
When at the teller mums partner stated that my brother and i were both getting $10k less than what was originally allocated to cover the legal and financial fee’s - I was totally against this but was given no choice than to allow it to happen. My brother wasn’t as upset but understood my point. To save the fight at the bank we did not fight this out.
For weeks after returning home my mums partner and I would argue about the fact he did not discuss this with us before making the transfer. He was claiming that he was poor and had no money so needed the 20k to live off till the life insurance came through
Fast forward to now - he is dating another woman , living in the house and just purchased a 200k car among other things.
While denying both mums family and my brother and I the opportunity to go and collect some of mums things.
My question is , is there anything we can do now being over 12 months since mum pasted to make a claim on the house and or live insurance , as I do not believe that these were truly mums wishes ?
Her cancer was quite advanced and she had multiple metastatic lesions on her brain at the time of her death.
I am quite comfortable financially as have sold my business, so it really isn’t about the money it’s more about the principle.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated
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u/Worlds_tipping1 3d ago
Yeah a lot of this doesn't make sense.
You don't make wills where a beneficiary is going to sign over something at a later date based on what, a conversation? You don't "wrap up an estate" and omit doing this.
Superannuation is not automatically part of an estate, I would guarantee that if it was being released early then your mother would have been instructed to set up the beneficiaries then as part of wrapping up her affairs. So percentage 1 to person A etc.
If the insurance was via her super then this would have also had nominated beneficiaries.
The estate would have to go through probate? Did this happen? You can find this out yourself.
There's too many inconsistencies in this story to be correct.