My Greedy Obnoxious Brother

Hi Scott,

In 2022, my stepdad passed away and shocked us all when he left all his $6.5 million in assets to my half-brother (his biological son), leaving my sister and me with nothing. To make things fair, our mum (divorced from him 10 years ago) updated her will to split her assets 50/50 between my sister and me.

When Mum passed recently, she left us about $3 million each. Now, our greedy, obnoxious half-brother is contesting her will. We expected this, of course. Yet our mum’s lawyer said her updated will was “bulletproof”. Yet now our trust lawyer says our brother can tie it up in court for years, and we might have to settle for $1 million. Any advice?
 
Brenda
 
Hi Brenda,

I’m really sorry to hear about your mum (and your half-brother).
 
The truth is that no will is bulletproof – nothing can stop an ‘eligible’ person from challenging a will.
 
However, that’s the million-dollar question:
 
Does your half-brother even have standing to challenge your Mum’s will? In most Australian states, unless they can prove financial dependence on the deceased at the time of death, stepchildren aren’t ‘eligible persons’ under family provision laws.
 
I spoke to my lawyer, Dr Brett Davies, and he says you should chat with a litigation lawyer to see if old greedy guts is just bluffing or if he actually has a leg to stand on to challenge your mum’s estate.

If his case is weak, he could walk away with nothing – and he might even have to cough up for your legal costs, and the estate’s!
 
Regardless, tread carefully and get expert advice. In deceased estate disputes, the only guaranteed winners are the lawyers (something Brett didn’t mention!).

-Scott.