In the important Superior Court of Justice decision in Officer v. The Estate of Charles Herbert Officer, Justice Faieta was called upon to settle the competing claims of the family of the late Mr. Charles Officer, who died at the young age of 48 without a Will. He was survived by his three year old son, his mother and his estranged common law spouse of five years, who was also the mother of his three year old son. When Mr. Officer died, he owned a condo in joint tenants with the former common law spouse Alice. Charles Officer’s mother Ione Officer lived in the condo, and she alleged that she had been promised by her son the right to continue to live in the condo for free for the balance of her life. She was an elderly infirm woman and pleaded that she needed the security of continuing to live in that in the condo. As Estate Lawyers who regularly have to act as Estate Litigation Lawyers ( Estate Litigation Attorney in the USA is the term ), the issue of who gets to live in a home after the owner has died is not that rare an occurrence. The court found that in the absence of anything in writing or any confirmation of this agreement, the mother had no right to continue to live in the condo and was required to move out. The court examined section 13 of The Evidence Act which states that a lawsuit against the heirs, executors or an estate cannot be successful unless the evidence is backed up by other material evidence. In the end, the courts held that that rule did not apply here, in that the contest was not between the mother and the estate, but rather between the mother and Alice. This then led to an argument as to whether or not the law on hearsay evidence was applicable. Hearsay evidence is canvassed in another one of our blogs.
Recall this author’s earlier comment that estate litigation as practiced by Will and Estate Lawyers, is often an exercise in making a stew. Numerous legal rights are all poured in and must be examined.
