Until his father’s death from Covid-19 in the spring of 2020, François Martel would have sworn that when the day came, everything would go as planned.
He had been appointed executor of the will a few years earlier and, at his parents’ request, the assets were to be divided equally among the five siblings.
Unfortunately, the reality was completely different. And instead of beginning his grief as intended, his father’s sudden departure was the start of a long, three-year legal battle for him and his sisters against half of the siblings. Something he never thought possible.
But that’s exactly what happened. “Anyone who believes that their parents’ inheritance comes to them automatically, that it is in some way part of their inheritance, can experience big surprises,” he warns. This experience showed me that you can’t take anything for granted. Even with the family. »
From the first moments of the reading of the will, Mr. Martel began to suspect that something unusual was going on. Not only was he no longer the designated executor, but he also learned that he and his two sisters had been completely disinherited by their father.
For everyone, except the two recognized younger brothers, the surprise was total. “Until the health measures related to Covid prevented us from visiting him, we all had good relations with him,” explains Mr. Martel. And he never informed us of any changes to his final wishes. Why had he come to make such a decision? »
His two younger brothers, who became the only heirs of the (out of five) siblings, repeated in vain that their father, without the knowledge of the rest of the family, had asked them to exclude the three other brothers and sisters from the inheritance. , a doubt remained… So much so that Mr. Martel decided to carry out some usual checks to be sure.
Then begins the search for a series of clues that prove that her father, weakened, suffering from early dementia and made vulnerable, was encouraged by those around him to sign a will against his will in which he received half disinherited by his children.
Together with his sisters, they decide to get help. A private detective, a specialist lawyer, an ophthalmology expert and not one, but two graphologists were then hired to prove, among other things, that passages in the documents had actually never been written by her father.
“This is not an easy task,” explains François Martel, who has always been interested in law but has not decided on a career. It takes time and money to enforce the truth. And knowing that the outcome of this battle is never certain in the meantime, he warns… You think about it all the time. These are years full of doubts, questions and shortened nights. »
In the end it will be worth it. Last May, three years after their father’s death, all five brothers and sisters reached an amicable settlement and received their share of the inheritance. The succession is settled. The family spirit still needs to be restored.
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