Any legal entitlement to share of estate when ex partner dies

I live in Australia and myself and my partner of 23years parted May 2013, when he returned to Ireland. He was openly using heroin and I had to get a legal separation so he would leave with an agreed sum of money.
I could have gone to court and he may have got no pay off but I had to get him out of the house and a payoff was the only way.
He hardly worked for his 8 years in Australia. The little he did earn was put in his pension, which he withdrew when he left Australia so he got that on top of the 250,00aud I gave him. I am left with a 355,00aud mortgage and no pension. He was ten years older than me so said his pension was more pressing than mine.
Before moving to Australia, he earned a very good wage as a mortgage broker and blew a minimum of 100,000gbp on drugs and henstole from my parents.
In Australia, he spent vast amounts on drugs plus I kept him for all those years....that included him running a car, his private psychiatrist appointments for his drug abuse, his legal medication costs, his top level of healthcare.
Anyway, he has died. He told me he would live off the inetrest and return my money but he hasn't. It seems he met a Filipino and he has divided his estate between his daughter and the Filipino....who is pregnant with his baby (allegedly).
So am I entitled to a share of my money back? I don't feel it was his to give away as it was almost blackmail money for him to leave. Have I got any grounds at all?
I am 52 and will never own my home as will never have the mortgage paid off and nor will I have a pension. I will have to sell my home eventually, through no fault of my own.

You will have to take legal advice in Australia and in Ireland.

A tragic story, but...

It seems that you agreed a payoff with him when you separated.

What happens to him and the money after that probably doesn't really matter.

Anyway, he has died. He told me he would live off the inetrest and return my money but he hasn't.

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Presumably this is not in writing anywhere?



You obviously thought at the time that the payoff was worth it to get rid of him.

Could a solicitor make some sort of case that you reached the separation agreement under duress?

I think you face the further complication of the interaction of Australian and Irish law.

But the key thing is that you will have to ask a solicitor in Australia if there is any avenue worth exploring. There should be an Irish solicitor practising in Australia who would understand the interaction of both jurisdictions.

Brendan

I remember being told, he could still make a counter claim for up to two years. They said it would be risky but he could do so, should he want to take the gamble....so one would assume the same applies to me.

I shall try to contact an Irish lawyer. None of what we spoke of is on paper. He was openly using drugs at the time, friends know of what went on but evidence was destroyed. He even wrote a note threatening suicide and "taking me with him" but he destroyed that.

I have no evidence...just a post Mortem that will show a heart attack from a heroin overdose.

As an aside there may not be as much left as you think, with interest rates so low here for years it is unlikely one could live on the interest from 250k aud which seems to be about 170k euro. Would be far less of an income than social welfare and would not fund any sort of a reasonable lifestyle without dipping into the capital.

Likely he blew it here on drugs too. There was a recent case of someone blowing a substantial inheritance (maybe EUR400k?) in a few short years.

The statements were being sent here up until a week before his death and I saw 210,000aud of it is invested here in Aus, plus he had pensions in the UK. Plus he has a cottage he inherited over in Ireland years ago.

Sorry for you, but a few questions.
1) How do you know who he left what to?
2) Is it possible the others don't know about the money in Australia deposit?
3) Was he so out of it that he may not have known what he had?
Above are just 3 questions, but don't just offer all you know to the other parties, they may not know these things. If you're still getting statements, you might be able to, shall we say, withdraw this money? No harm in trying. In any case, beyond anything else I've said, you will need expert legal advice if you decide to follow it up, with no guarantee you'll get anything. I'd imagine if the other parties know all you do, they'll liquidate everything fairly quickly. I wish you good luck though.

1) His daughter showed her uncle and he in turn told his wife and sister. His sister has said it is all to his daughter and the Filipino, his wife said all is left to his daughter. So as yet nothing is official but it all looks pretty certain. He verbally told me on a few occasions I was beneficiary in his pensions but who knows now as that is obviously not mentioned. Wonder if it is the companies that locate me if that is true?

2) They all know. I was over to see his daughter and family in June and showed them a recent statement before posting it to him and telling him not to use my address any more. I still however received another statement a few weeks ago and sent it back to the bank saying not known at this address.

3) He always knew exactly what he had in finances. He was very shrewd. The interest was due in October so he would have had a spell of using only this time he got caught out. Just don't know if they know about all his pensions. Hard when I don't know what the will says exactly. So many things were via email and they don't have access to that. Would the bank be able to reveal where his payments were coming from and locate stuff that way?

The daughter and I have always been so close but she hasn't mentioned the will at all. She knows I had to borrow the money to get him out. After twenty three a half years, I finally told her about his drug problem and he went to live with her in Ireland after we split up. She only lasted a year with him and as he started using again so she asked him to leave her house but they remained close.

You and the daughter have to "really" talk. You'll then find out, or at least have a better idea of how close you really are.

Will do but her silence is saying so much......my expectations of any voluntary gestures are diminishing.

Was he married to the Fillipina woman?

No. They never lived together. She got pregnant and then she ended the relationship but they kept in regular contact. She got him to agree to pay for a nanny and she wanted a visa. The baby is due in December.....no idea if he is the father or not. She has five kids in the Philipines who stay with their dad and she sends home money.

It doesn't sound like you have any claim on his estate, when you gave him money it was to sever any financial connection between you. I don't know what rights the unborn child has. TBH, it sounds like an awful mess and you are better off (though not financially) out of it.

His promise to return the money is in an email from him.

Alone in Aus said:

I am 52 and will never own my home as will never have the mortgage paid off and nor will I have a pension. I will have to sell my home eventually, through no fault of my own.

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Why will you lose the home, are you not paying the mortgage? How were you able to keep him, to fund his car, his medical leal costs, private medical care etc, what has happened to that income that you now don't need to spend on him?

Why do you have no pension? I understood that in Australia they were quite progressive in ensuring people were putting enough into their state pensions?