Challenging a will?

Sigh.... those of you who are regular readers will know there is the Black Cat in my life. 

The Black Cat is my youngest sibling....the family problem, the black sheep. She is an alcoholic (although apparently "dry" at the moment). She has married twice and had multiple other men in her life. Fortunately there were never any children.

My parents bailed her out over and over again. It was always going to be "the last time" but of course it never was. Over the years she has had more than her share...and now she wants more still.

The Senior Cat knew what she was like but tried to show "unconditional love" at all times. She knew and took advantage of that. He was not however completely foolish. His will states that her share is "in trust". He simply did not trust her with anything apart from small sums of money...those added up to hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands and more over the years. She was given things - fridges, washing machines and microwave ovens. Our mother bought her clothes and bed linen more than once.

All of it has disappeared over the years. She now rents a tiny house in another state and lives on a "disability pension" which is about to become an "age pension". The disability pension was given to her following accidents caused by her own inebriation.

Her behaviour and demands over the years have had a massive impact on the rest of us. As the child who was not married and who did not have a family to support Brother Cat, Middle Cat and I made the decision that I would be the one who would have to return home, stay at home and care for our parents when it was no longer safe for my parents to be alone. At that time the Black Cat's second husband was not just being violent towards her but had threatened violence to our parents. The police were involved and they were advised to keep everything locked and to take extreme care when out and about. Social welfare from alcohol and drug addiction services were involved and advised them to have someone else living on the property - me. Over and over again there were issues and problems. For our safety she spent some time in a women's shelter. That cost the Senior Cat hours of "volunteering" in the shelter doing maintenance work as well as regular donations because he felt he should. I am still involved in now caring for the nuns who cared for her.

The Black Cat appeared at our mother's funeral so inebriated she could not stand upright without support.  She told the rest of us we didn't love Mum because we were not weeping the way she was. There was worse to come and, despite not wanting to speak to her, the Senior Cat went on supporting her.  

The Senior Cat never again trusted the Black Cat. Who can blame him for that? She moved to another state. He would always phone her at the same time on a Sunday afternoon. Sometimes she would not answer his call. There would always be an excuse of some sort but he knew they were excuses. On the occasions she called him and I answered the call she would simply say, "Get Dad". He would say, "I wonder how much she wants this time."

And now she is challenging the way the Senior Cat finally said, "Any more I give you from this date, apart from Christmas and birthday presents will come out of your share of my estate." No, it isn't fair. I need more than the rest of you. Cat's been living rent free and the others have houses. I haven't got anything." No, I was not living rent free. I have always paid half of the household expenses and contributed in other ways as well as caring for our parents. The others have had other expenses, families to consider.

I know it will be sorted out in the end but it may well come at a huge cost to the rest of us. Challenging a will can be dangerous - but not always for the person who challenges it.