A secret daughter of an Australian mining millionaire was given twice her initial request by an Australian Court after being left a mere 2.3 million dollars after her father died. In the end Ms. Mead walked away with about 19 million dollars. Did your wealthy relative leave you some inheritance but not anything compared to your other relatives? A will contest may be a viable solution in Palm Beach Probate Court or anywhere in Florida. Learn more about when a Court is willing to disturb someone’s otherwise valid will on grounds of unfairness.
- This case came out of Western Australia’s Supreme Court and dealt with the estate of a mining titan, Michael Wright.
- The woman who is only 19 years old was originally left 2.3 million in a trust that she could not access until she was 30.
- Ms. Mead went to court and asked for 9 million dollars.
- The Judge doubled here request and left her 19 million dollars!
Originally the young woman asked for quite the odd list of items including:
- A diamond crusted bass guitar
- A crystal covered grand piano (clearly the father had a penchant for jewel encrusted musical instruments, I am not sure if that is an Australian sign of wealth)
- And an allowance to allow her to keep several pets along with 32000 for her eventual wedding (which seems rather modest).
The woman eventually changed her mind asking for a lump sum, specifically 9 million dollars.The Court grounded the award of 19 million on the grounds that the mans other daughters each received about 300 million dollars.
I am not sure how a Florida Probate Court would react to these facts. As we have seen previously the Florida Probate Court interprets wills and statutes strictly and honestly this reach for evening the playing field shocked even Australian barristers (lawyers).
Here is was what really caught my attention:
- a small request for $120 a week for wine. The Forbes Article I was reading considered this a modest request, and given the figures played with I am obliged to agree.
- But why did she specifically ask for that amount? Because that is the price of her fathers favorite bottle of wine and she wanted to show she knew that and wanted the wine to enjoy, weekly in her fathers memory. My guess is that this really stuck with the judge.
Want to learn more about probate, will contests and more? Check out our FAQ video library here: http://www.pankauskilawfirm.com/