Peculiar case from Australia: “It barely raises an eyebrow when a spurned daughter, former de facto or homosexual lover challenges a deceased person’s will, asking for a share of the estate. But when the boarder in the spare room challenges – and the Supreme Court awards him nearly $450,000 – seemingly innocuous domestic relationships are revealed as financial minefields.” Frances Lan Fong Fung allowed Michael Ye to live rent free and paid some of his tuition fees; in return he helped with household chores and some of her personal care needs, like insulin injection. Her will left her estate to her siblings and nothing to him, but a judge accepted Ye’s argument that she had wrongfully failed to recognize a relationship akin to that of aunt and devoted nephew. An elder care lawyer “said elderly people either had to have a paid contract with their live-in boarder, or go to the expense of an application to the Supreme Court for the person to rescind their right to make a claim against the estate…. Ms Fung’s brother, Keith, said his family wished to maintain their privacy but said it had been an important lesson for people not to take anybody into their home.” (Leonie Lamont, Sydney Morning Herald, Jul. 8).
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