Parents Sued By Daughters After Dividing Inheritance Unfairly By Gender
The parents wanted to give their four daughters 6.7% of the inheritance, leaving 93.3% to their two sons.
By Selena Chua — 01 Aug 2019, 07:08 PM
In Canada, four Indo-Canadian sisters took their dissatisfaction with their parents' will to the next level by bringing the case to court
Their parents wanted to give the daughters 6.7% while leave the remaining 93.3% to their two sons
In their parents' original will, each of the sisters were due to receive CAD150,000 (around RM470,000) from the CAD9 million (RM28 million) estate.
Their two brothers on the other hand, were due to divide the remaining CAD4.2 million (RM13 million).
Vancouver lawyer Trevor Todd, who represented the sisters, described the will as "ridiculously unfair"
On 17 July, the court overturned the will, granting each of the sisters CAD1.35 million (around RM3.1 million), which is around 15% of the estate.
Meanwhile, the brothers will split the remaining 40%, amounting to CAD1.8 million (around RM5.6 million) each, according to South China Morning Press (SCMP).
The four sisters were very happy with the results and consider it a victory
Lawyer Bernard Lau told SCMP: "We've seen cases where Chinese parents wanted to give 100% of their estate to their sons or their spouse, and neglected others in the family."
"By doing that, you're risking a court battle, that will invariably damage relationships."
Todd also told CBC News that one of the reasons the sisters decided to pursue the claim was to encourage other South Asian women in the same position to have the courage to do so.
This was not the first time Todd has handled a case like this.
Fifteen years ago, a couple wanted to disinherit their daughter and leave their entire fortune to their son.
