MBOMBELA – A local toddler finally inherited from his late father after his elder half brother, who hadn’t been aware of his existence, contested the will.
Legal Aid SA’s senior civil attorney Mr Eben Smith of the local Justice Centre, worked tirelessly to ensure that the estate was fairly shared between the two brothers.
According to Mr Raymond Nenjelele, regional communications practitioner of Legal Aid, the deceased had been widowed, but was in a relationship with a local woman for 10 years with whom he had a one-year-old son. “He also had an elder son from his marriage with his late wife,” Nenjelele said.
The elder son resides in the UK and was under the impression that his father had undergone a vasectomy. “When he was informed of the existence of his younger sibling, he was sceptical and informed the child’s mother that his father had been incapable of having more children. However, the woman insisted that the child was the son of the deceased,” he continued.
The mother then approached the local Justice Centre for assistance and Smith heeded her call. He had to move quickly to get a court order to halt the cremation of the deceased, as it would have made it impossible to prove paternity. The order was granted and pathology experts were authorised to do the test.
Blood and tissue samples were taken from the body and tested to prove paternity. “The paternity tests came back 99,9 per cent positive, proving that the deceased was indeed the father of the one-year-old boy. The matter was concluded successfully, ensuring fair distribution of the estate between both beneficiaries,” Nenjelele said.
Smith added, “Our client was delighted at the excellent service she received from Legal Aid SA, of utmost importance being the fact that the inheritance would provide a good education and bright future for her son.
“The best thing arising from this is that the elder son was also delighted to inherit a brother, and is happy to share.”
