| Families at war over probate
DISGRUNTLED offspring and first wives are fighting for their share of
Irish family fortunes, as Ireland’s property boom and soaring divorce
rates trigger an unprecedented probate war.
Hundreds of probate lawyers, tax experts and stockbrokers are set to meet
in Dublin next month to discuss the legal complications arising from second
and third marriages.
Ireland’s family landscape has changed dramatically since the first
divorce was granted here 10 years ago.
Divorce rates have increased by 70 per cent in the last four years alone.
As divorcees remarry, probate lawyers say there has been an “explosion”
in Section 117 actions by sons and daughters of first, second and in some
cases third marriages who claim they have not received their rightful
inheritance.
Counter claims are also being staked by children born out of wedlock who
are unknown to next-of-kin until a testator dies and are using DNA technology
to derive benefit from a long-lost parent’s estate.
Section 117 of Ireland’s 42-year-old Succession Act allows a court
to make orders on a dead parent’s estate if it feels the child has
not been adequately provided for.
“There has been an explosion in Section 117 actions because property
has become so valuable,” said Brian Speirin, a senior counsel who
specialises in probate law.
“The Succession Act needs to be overhauled in light of the huge
social changes that have taken place in the last 40 years.”
The High Court which formerly handed out generous sums to unhappy offspring
has now done an about face as the succession war takes hold.
Warring offspring are fighting each other; their dead father’s second
wives and their half-brothers and sisters. This trend is set to escalate
as more people become involved in second and subsequent relationships.
Experts say that although the courts have closed ranks on feuding children
who are seeking a bigger stake in their parents’ estates, they have
been shocked by the levels of greed fuelling the probate boom.
“I am often gobsmacked by the extent of greed,” said Anne
Stephenson a probate solicitor. |
