Caroline Gibbs acted for a girlfriend of a deceased gentleman who died leaving a very “old” will that did not reflect his present living circumstances. According to the will he left (which he made when his children by his first marriage were young teenagers) they inherited his entire estate. This did not reflect the fact that he had been divorced from their mother at the time he made the will, and the beneficiaries were now young adults in full time employment, and he had for in excess of 10 years cohabited with the girlfriend. In addition the girlfriend ran her business from the home which she had set up with the deceased.
The two children did not accept that the girlfriend had a claim on the estate. The girlfriend brought an Inheritance Act claim for provision as a dependent of the deceased and at the same we had to make representations to the deceased’s Pension Fund for the lump sum and annuity that was going to be paid out under the pension. The case proceeded to Court because the children were in denial about their father’s relationship with his girlfriend, and the children wished for the matter to go to a full trial which would obviously deplete the estate to nobody’s benefit.
Eventually the Pension Fund decided in favour of the girlfriend and essentially forced the hands of the deceased’s children. However, because of the children’s conduct of the matter we were also successful in not only recovering the girlfriend’s share of the Pension Fund and the estate but also of her costs. It was a difficult case because of the heightened emotions and the fact our client had recently been bereaved and the sheer intransigence of the defendants.