The legal battle for mining magnate Michael Wrights, billion dollar estate continues this week as the $25 million dollars given to his secret daughter Olivia Mead is being appealed yet again, to Australias highest court. Should I be worried about about a secret sibling taking my wealth from my south beach family? What a Palm Beach Probate lawyer can show you aboutcertainty in estate planning.
- yesterday marked three weeks since a sensationably unforseen multimillion dollar award to a University student who did not reveal herself during her prolonged court battle with her half sisters for a larger slice of her fathers billionaire mining district.
- I originally wrote about her about $20 million dollar wish list including diamond encrusted music instruments (thats not a typo there were multiple) and 30,000 for a nice wedding ( kind of modest for South Florida right?)
- Executor of the estate David Lemon has signaled an intention to halt a payment of 25 million dollars he still contents that the 3 million dollar trust was a fair award
- He is filing a challenge in the Australian Supreme Court the day the payment is due.
What do you have to worry about with your Palm Beach estate plan? If you have children from other people than your spouse or preferred beneficiary what can you do?
- A will that is clear can avoid these probate debates. This case got confusing because of the mixed intent of the testator since Ms. MEad could show intent to give more than the three million the court had a bit of leeway to do as they chose.
- Even this award was a bit large in my opinion. You do not see American Courts offering people more than they ask for that often, even Australian jurists were a bit shocked by this.
- Surprises are best avoided in probate court. If you have some suprise children,I strongly suggest you clear this up with a probate lawyer but know that…
- There are issues with joint representation. Lets say that you have a secret daughter and you are married. If you walked into a lawyers office and ask them to represent you and your spouse they will but its jointly and they cant do something for you that is against her interests. So if you want money put to a secret child, they are going to have to talk to you about conflicts of interests. So plan ahead, and avoid surprises.