Paternity Issues and Probate

  • Thread starter angeleyes09
  • Start date
If your father is this childs father he had a moral duty to provide for him/her in his will unless he discharged that duty during his life. If he fails to do so the child (acting through the mother in this case) can make a claim under Section 117 of the Succession Act, 1965. That's a difficult case to mount, but I'm guessing that if the case is taken it might cause some embarassment.

However, there is no obligation on you to provide the financial information requested at this point. The will will be public record when it has gone through probate, but the rest of the information is none of her business. To me it sounds like she is trying to assess how much the estate is worth before offering to take X amount to "go away". My immediate instinct would be to say that there will be no discussion of the estate until paternity is proved.
 
That information which was sought is nobody's business except the executor's. Even beneficiaries in a will are not entitled to know anything about the will (except what their own particular inheritance is).

Should that person prove that they are in fact the lawful child, they are STILL not entitled to know the information specified until it becomes public record after grant of probate.

Do not reply to that letter without receiving legal advice.
 
Did the deceased die with or without a will? If he died without a will then the entitlement to extract a grant comes into question immediately.

Suggest you offer DNA testing immediately ( no need for an exhumation if there are close blood relations of the deceased who can offer dna sample for comparison). You may be extracting a grant without title to do so.

If there IS a will then different situation, but still need to address the situation. How old is the child?
 
I'm sorry for your loss.

No will means that if this child is his, the child is entitled to his entire estate.

I realise this may be very difficult for your family to accept but I have seen it happen before. DNA testing at an early juncture would be the best thing to do IMO. If close blood relatives of the deceased will not voluntarily submit to testing the mother of the child will probably end up having to go to court to seek an exhumation order.

Who was acting as administrator of the estate? They may not have title to do so.
 
For your own benefit I think I will refrain from discussing this issue any further. Suffice to say your own solicitor needs to advise you carefully about how to proceed here.

While the issue of an unknown child does arise from time to time, it is not so often that it would make it hard to identify the individuals involved in this particular thread. Be careful about disclosing any further information, and possibly delete some of the identifying details above.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top