receive an inheritance It can be a significant economic change for many people, especially when the deceased leaves property and large amounts of money. However, there are those who try to take advantage of these situations to keep assets that do not belong to them. This is exactly what happened in Australia, where a couple falsified the will of a deceased man to keep an inheritance valued at 6.7 million Australian dollars (more than 4 million euros), one of them going so far as to impersonate her husband to get the money.
According to information known during the trial, published by ABC Newsthe accused, a couple in their 40s with 3 children, had prepared a deception to keep the fortune of the man who died in 2023 at the age of 67. To achieve this, the man posed as the deceased’s spouse, although in reality he was married to his partner.
The case ended up in court after several friends of the deceased became suspicious of what happened and went to the Police. Finally, the couple pleaded guilty to obtaining a financial advantage through deception and will now have to wait until December to hear the sentence, after the hearing in which the sentence was scheduled to be handed down was postponed.
They forged the will to keep the deceased’s inheritance
After the old man’s death, the man entered one of his homes and took several identification documents. From what was explained during the trial, he used those documents to prepare a false will in which he appeared as the deceased’s spouse, which would allow him to keep his assets.
Once the document was prepared, he went to a lawyer to start the inheritance procedures and got the Supreme Court to approve the request in January 2024.
However, he had not acted alone. His partner also participated in the deception, as he helped pose as a witness to the will and told the lawyer a false story to justify the alleged relationship between the two men.
In fact, during the trial a five-minute voice message was played in which the woman laughed as she explained what she had told the lawyer. According to his version, there were no photographs of the two together because the deceased was from a generation in which homosexual people did not openly talk about their sexual orientation.
The woman also received 156,800 Australian dollars (almost 98,000 euros) from the inheritance, which she used to take her children on a cruise vacation and buy a Toyota RAV4, jewelry and other luxury items.
The couple pleads guilty and will have to wait until December to hear the sentence
It was the friends who, after suspecting that it was a hoax, notified the police and, after the investigation, it was discovered how the document had been prepared and the participation of both defendants, who finally acknowledged having obtained money fraudulently.
From what the Prosecutor’s Office explained, although the main person responsible had been the husband, he had not been able to carry it out without the help of his partner.
During the hearing, she claimed that their relationship had been marked by domestic violence and control, and explained that she had initially warned him that falsifying the will was a bad idea.
“I told him that it was a bad idea because he has children and that he could end up in jail,” explained the woman, who also claimed to be sorry for what happened.
In the case of the husband, during the trial it was pointed out that he had acted out of greed, although his gambling problems and his habitual drug use were also taken into account.
Meanwhile, Australian authorities are trying to recover all of the estate’s assets, although much of the money has not yet been returned.
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Finally, the judge decided to postpone the hearing in which the sentence was scheduled to be heard and the couple will have to wait until December to find out what punishment they will receive. Until then, he will remain in prison, while she remains free on bail.