I need some advice. A friend is trying to contest a deceased estate in Vancouver which was of a Canadian man she spent 6 months per year in defacto relationship whilst he was escaping the northern winter. He talked her into buying half share in apartment building which she would be landlady of and manage redeveloping new additional apartment to such a building. This she did. Then he was annoyed with staying in small rear cottage to her own property so talked her into buy another place together so she would be closer to servicing the apartment building, as some apartments were for short term rental. She drew $500,000 on equity in her own home to share the next building but it costed more so the guy paid a greater than half share and then once bought forced her into yet another large mortgage to pay off. He had always said "when I die you will be gifted my share in both dwellings". This was only word of mouth promises but witnessed by 3 people. The guy died in Vancouver at the age of 98 at end of 2017. She was not in his final will to be taken care of and he wrote a rather malicious Stat. Dec. about not being in a defacto relationship with her, the previous year after he had lost his visa to Australia due to overstaying. She was never notified about this Stat. Dec. until after he had died. She travelled to Vancouver go to court to try get what he promised her. His estate was worth 46 million but she failed to win any honouring of the promises. Now back in Australia the lawyer opted out of trying for the Supreme Court bid for her share. Meanwhile she has spent way over budget, like it would have been $200,000 in fees by the time she went to court here too. Can she now apply for Pro Bono representation to go through and put her case to the already planned Supreme Court case? During the latter years with him she contracted an incurable lung disease IPF and after hearing about being out of his will she now has Lymphoma. She had put her heart and soul into their half yearly relationships for nigh on 12 years until he lost his visa, then it became a relationship via phone and her flying to meet him in Hawaii. Not wanting further stress she has tried to mediate with the inheritor of the estate and her lawyer like cutting her losses and selling up the two buildings, but somehow the cancellation of the Consent not to go to Court is getting delayed all the time through mistakes and errors. Thus pointing towards perhaps to keep going forward might be the best way out rather than opt out in such a damaged state.
