Property Evaluation and Contesting a Will
This could very well pass off as the saga of relationships, confusions and chaotic disputes. Hemraj Vatsyan's father Dwarka Dass had two wives. His first marriage with Kamla Dass ended up in a divorce and he then married Jagminder Kaur. He had three sons from his first wife-and then adopted a girl, Peggy. Later after his divorce when he remarried, he had a son from his second wife. During his life time, he had accumulated properties near Amritsar and under the natural succession principal all his children would have inherited.
However, in the year 2010, he made a new will in which he disowned his first wife, their three sons and the adopted daughter. Under this will, all his property was to be handed over to his son from the second marriage, Dilraj. Since Dilraj was still a minor, it was stated that nobody could sell the property till Dilraj would become a major. In addition nobody could take guardianship of Dilraj.
There was another angle to the entire situation too. Dwarka Dass seemed to have a problem with his brother Tilak Raj. To sort out these problems and handle the case Dwarka Dass apparently gave power of attorney to Manjit Soni, his father's brother's son. However after Dwarka Dass's death in 2014, Manjit declared that Dwarka Dass had in fact made another will document wherein he had transferred some property in his name.
Hemraj had been a resident of Birmingham, UK for the past twenty years and by his own admission, he felt thoroughly baffled by the sheer web of complexities that seemed to loom large at him.
He approached the NRI Legal Services through internet and explained that he needed to understand the current status of all the properties as also get the same evaluated. Along with that, he would be requiring advice on contesting a Will since he felt there need of contesting his father's will and there were some loopholes in it.
For one, he was of the strong opinion that Dwarka Dass's signature seemed forged. Also, as per the Will the Peggy also stood disowned from the property which seemed tough to believe. She and her three brothers wanted to not only challenge the Will but also check if they could file a case against Manjit Singh to challenge the transfer of Dwarka Dass’s property to his name.
Later, Peggy also joined to group video calls sessions from the USA. The other two brothers could also connect from India and it was easy for the four of them to have video chats and discussions with the legal experts of the company. E mails to and from the office, messaging availability, easy access to all lawyers and regular updating from the office kept the anxiety levels of the clients down to bare minimum. In time, Hemraj genuinely started believing that he need not even travel back and forth to India to sort out the property issues.
Almost all of his work got done without his going there. The property search and evaluation work got completed without much ado. In time, they were also able to challenge the Will and gradually prove their point. The entire mesh of relationships accepted and ignored, cases handled and fought, Hemraj said later on that connecting to NRI legal services was like finding salvation when he had morosely started preparing himself for misery all life!
