One of the more notorious lawsuits in modern Australian history finally reaches a conclusion as rival opera troupes agree to split the bequest of the late Melva Thompson, who died four years ago at 95. Of her A$2 million benefaction, more than $800,000 has been eaten up on legal fees. (Corrie Perkin, The Australian, Sept. 6).
Oz: “Opera fan’s gift bitten by legal bills”
One of the more notorious lawsuits in modern Australian history finally reaches a conclusion as rival opera troupes agree to split the bequest of the late Melva Thompson, who died four years ago at 95. Of her A$2 million benefaction, more than $800,000 has been eaten up on legal fees. (Corrie Perkin, The Australian, Sept. […]
One Comment
If I’d been the judge in this case, I would have been tempted to render a Solomon-like decision, I’d have found an Australian opera company that was NOT suing at great expense and given the money to them. That way, absolute none of this unfortunate woman’s $2 million bequest would have been wasted in legal fees. And those who were suing would learn a bitter lesson.
And let’s don’t forget that behind this was a probate lawyer who screwed up badly. The woman’s lawyer was no doubt getting well-enough paid, he should have caught this problem in time for her to change her will. This is as much lawyerly malpractice as some dreadful drug interaction is medical malpractice. Why not make that lawyer and his insurers pay?
I had a friend who faced a similar problem. Her husband wasn’t quite as sharp as some his last few months, and a probate lawyer refused to let him clarify his will–even though by my judgment, he was quite capable of knowing what he wanted. As a result his widow got stuck with thousands of dollars in legal fees to straighten out a mess that could have been corrected in a few minutes while he was alive.