Defending a surviving spouse's property in an inheritance dispute

After the wife's death, her relatives (her mother and sister) filed a claim against our client. They sought a court finding that a marital relationship existed before the marriage was officially registered, sought to include the client's separate pre-marital property (an apartment, a house and a plot of land) in the estate, and sought to have an apartment bought during the marriage recognized as the deceased's separate property. The claimants also tried to alter the spouses' shares in their own favor, formally under the guise of protecting the interests of the client's minor son.

The claimants insisted the pre-marital property had been created through joint effort, and that the real estate acquired during the registered marriage had been bought solely with the deceased's personal funds, since the client allegedly had no income without good reason. The opposing parties claimed to be acting to protect the child from the father's bad-faith conduct.

We proved that a de facto marital relationship has no legal effect on the property regime. The pre-marital property was acquired by the client independently, which is conclusively confirmed by the title documents. As to the property acquired during the marriage, we argued the mandatory rules of family law apply: one spouse having no income doesn't deprive them of the right to joint ownership, and the claimants produced no evidence the property was bought solely with the deceased's personal funds. Separately, we pointed out that the claimants had no procedural standing to act on behalf of the client's minor son while his living legal representative (the father) was available.

The claims were dismissed in full. Both instances fully sided with the client, ruling out the unlawful encroachment on his property rights.

The dispute shows that family and inheritance law cannot be read expansively in an attempt to override the lawful marital-property regime with subjective arguments about each spouse's degree of financial contribution, and it curbs bad-faith attempts by third parties to act on behalf of minor heirs, bypassing their lawful representatives.

Inheritance disputes between relatives; defending pre-marital property against inclusion in the estate; disputes over whether property is separate or jointly owned by spouses; challenging the existence of a de facto marital relationship.