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Anonymous74

Member
7 December 2017
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Hi there and thanks in advance for any answers you may be able to help with :)

Sister is the executor. Brother died over five (5) years ago. Almost half of the estate was left to her, a little over half to me. She refuses to honor brother's will, and is trying to keep every bit of his almost $1,000,000 estate for herself.

Here I'll break things down for clarity:

1. If brother's house and majority of belongings were in ACT (Canberra), but he was traveling around Australia in his caravan and had been in NT for at least six months prior to his death (and died in NT), and she resides in QLD, what state law will be applicable here - QLD, ACT, or NT?

2. She has paid off his debts, but has refused to distribute any of the deceased estate whatsoever, nor has she maintained the value of his assets (ex: refuses to allow anyone to rent the house that she and I are equal 50% each beneficiaries in) for almost 2 years now, and is losing the estate approx $20k / year rental income, plus refusing to cooperate on repairs and letting it fall into disrepair.

She's threatened to steal the house by claiming I'm uncooperative. How would she be able to do that?

Also, is she liable for any increase in taxes (Capital Gains Tax) due to failure to distribute within the Executor's Year, and/or the lost income, and/or depreciation on assets, and/or interest for any of this?

3. Brother designated dad as the beneficiary of his superannuation policy which had a substantial life insurance policy attached. She found a loophole (dad was not a dependent), and therefore the $$ went into the estate.

She feels no obligation to abide by brother's wishes, and is using the loophole to keep the $$ as part of the estate (she paid off her personal vehicle and brother's vehicle which I have been driving), and adamantly does not want dad to know anything about it.

Does she have any obligation to abide by brother's written wish, or notify the dad?

4. Brother left two of his best friends and me equal parts (1/3 each) of any "recreational goods" or "recreational items" (I don't have the exact word). He was definitely referring to the boat at the very least, as one of the beneficiaries was already part owner.

Does a non-motorised RV caravan he was traveling around the country in count as a recreational item? Sister sold it, paid off the loan, and put the proceeds towards the estate - and has no intention of distributing any of these funds towards the three of us.

5. She refuses to sign over the vehicle I've been driving, and I'm worried she'll make a claim that it's half hers as part of the estate.

But since she already used a like amount of the life insurance $ to pay off her personal vehicle, would she still be entitled to half of my vehicle?

6. Finally, she has paid a lawyer approx $8k (guessing from the estate funds) to draw up paperwork to have me sign everything over to her.

She is saying that it's so my partner can never claim any rights to my inheritance. Is that correct?

This was done without any consultation to myself, and since I declined, she has all but stopped communication for over a year - trying to force and guilt me into giving her everything.
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And this sums up the legal questions I have in this matter.

Any specific knowledge you have on any of these issues would be most appreciated, as I would prefer to keep this out of court and civil, if at all possible.

Thank you again :)