Lately, I've found myself thinking a lot about cuckoos. Not the clock kind. The bird kind. And the humans who embody the very same traits.
Depending on how you feel about audacity, the common cuckoo is either one of nature's most impressive operators or its most shameless freeloader. What it lacks in brightly coloured plumage, it makes up for in deviousness. It lays its eggs in another bird's nest, where the host bird raises the cuckoo chick as its own, often at the expense of its own young, who get pushed out of the nest to make room. The cuckoo chick grows fast, eats voraciously, takes up enormous amounts of space, and contributes absolutely nothing to the household. When it's ready it flies away (or just sticks around).
The majority of people who come to me wondering if they have grounds to make an inadequate family provision claim against a deceased estate have a human cuckoo in their family nest. Someone who has impressively managed to tuck themselves under the wing of the deceased, fed off their bank account or generosity, manipulated circumstances to suit themself, and is now sitting pretty; warm, well-fed, and with absolutely no intention of moving on or playing fair.
Cuckoos aren't always obvious at first.
Sometimes they're adult children who never flew the nest. Sometimes they're a sibling who relied on a parent to carry them through life or constantly needed to be bailed out. Sometimes they're a family member or friend who was very present in the final years (we don't dismiss that) but somewhere between being helpful and present managed to reorganise things in their favour. Sometimes it's children or stepchildren who seem to have forgotten they're enjoying a warm, comfortable, well-padded nest because someone else helped build it.
Sometimes you don't even realise you've been living with a cuckoo until you start to get an uncomfortable feeling that what you received (or what was left for you) doesn't reflect the relationship you had with the person who died, the contributions you made over years, or your genuine financial need.
You're not being greedy. You're not being difficult. You're just looking at the assets you always assumed would be distributed across the family, that are now, somehow, largely concentrated in one place. Their nest.
The legal translation of the cuckoo situation is a claim for inadequate family provision.
In Australia, if you've been left out of a family member's estate entirely, or if what you've been left doesn't reflect your legitimate entitlement given your relationship with the deceased and your financial circumstances, you may have grounds to make a claim. These claims exist precisely because the law recognises that sometimes, for a variety of reasons, wills don't reflect what the deceased person would have wanted, or what is fair.
Changed circumstances. Undue influence. Decisions made under pressure or with diminished capacity. These are all reasons the option to claim for inadequate family provision exists.
The cuckoo in your family's nest may have arrived there entirely legitimately. Or they might not have. The law allows space for that question to be asked.
Part of the work I do as Your Estate Lawyer is sitting with families who are in exactly this position. Unsure. Confused. Disappointed. Angry. Grieving. Wondering whether what they're feeling is a legitimate concern or just the complicated emotions that come with loss, inheritance, and often tricky family dynamics all landing at once. If it's the latter, I will tell you that plainly and honestly. And if it's the former, I will help you understand what your options actually are, equally plainly and honestly.
If you've recently had a family member die and you have reason to believe the estate hasn't adequately accounted for you, whether it's because a cuckoo has made itself very comfortable, or any other reason, let's have a conversation.
You don't need to have it all figured out. You don't need to have your boxing gloves out ready for a fight. You don't have to know the legal terminology or figure it out by yourself. You just need to show up and tell me how it looks from your side of the nest.
The contents of this article is general information only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. It is not intended to be a substitute for either and should not be relied upon as such. You should seek independent professional advice in relation to your specific circumstances.