We are helping with the administration of a double deceased estate, where an elderly son died not long after his even more-elderly mother.
The son was broke, having borrowed far too much from a bank. He died still owing nearly $5 million, according to the bank, at least, even after the bank sold his properties for him. However, the amount owed is in dispute. His main asset was his expected inheritance, which exceeded the debt, but nothing was received from her estate until well after he had passed away.
The bank has sued for that balance in 2015, and seems to have been waiting for that inheritance to come through, but has done nothing for over a year. The matter may well be in the inactive cases list and destined to be dismissed for want of prosecution.
We have advised our client not to distribute any proceeds to any beneficiaries, pending resolution, one way or the other, of the dispute with the bank. We have not yet been instructed in relation to the court proceedings brought on by the bank, but admissions made during the recent royal commission indicate that the bank may not recover anything like the amount it is claiming.
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