Pretoria - A brother and sister went to court after their wealthy father made his caregiver a beneficiary in his will, effectively freezing them out of inheriting for 15 years.
The consequence of the decision by the late Jacobus Grimbeek, a former miner who in later life suffered from dementia and was almost blind, was that his children would have to wait out the stipulated period before they could inherit from him.
His daughter Oriel turned to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, to contest a will he made about six months before his death on Valentine's Day, 2014. In that will he included his caregiver, a woman identified only as Christine, and who was 38 years old while he was in his 80s.
In terms of the will, a trust was established in terms of which Christine could continue to live in Grimbeek's house in Pretoria and once the trust lapsed after 15 years, she would be entitled to R2 million, with the balance of his estate shared between the two siblings. She died inexplicably about a month before her employer.
In spite of her death, the siblings were still only able to inherit after 15 years, while Grimbeek's former wife, despite having a good relationship with him, inherited nothing.
Oriel turned to court to have her father's last will declared invalid so the family could inherit. In her affidavit she said her father became so frail he needed a caregiver. Christine was employed. Oriel said about a year before his death, and during the period that he changed his will, he told her he wanted to marry Christine. She claimed Christine had told her she was a lesbian.
Oriel said she became concerned about her father's state of mind. She launched an application for a curator to to make decisions on his behalf. But before the court could hear the application, Grimbeek died. A doctor confirmed that he had suffered from dementia at the time he signed the will.
Judge Peter Mabuse declared the last will to be of no value and ordered a previous one, in which the siblings and their mother inherited, to be his true last will and testament.
Pretoria News