A contest of wills

At stake is an estate consisting of prime properties in Bombay and stocks in blue chip companies worth Rs 200 crore. The contestants are the divorced wife of the brother of the deceased, versus a friend of recent vintage who claims to be the sole executor of a will that mandates the entire estate should go to charity. And the Bombay High Court (BHC) has permitted the woman to contest the will, reports Mumbai Mirror (MM) of July 29, 2012.

On July 12, 2012, MM reported that 80-year-old Villy Avasia residing at Marine Drive, who had divorced Jamshed Dalal 50 years ago, had laid claim to her ex-husband’s property which had been subsequently inherited by his brother Purvez. A Pedder Road resident, Purvez passed away last December, aged 75. He was the sole owner of the Pedder Road mansion, properties in Colaba and Crawford Market along with substantial stocks and shares. On July 2, 2012, the executor of Purvez’s will, 62-year-old Manek Sukhadwalla, filed a complaint at Marine Drive Police Station alleging that Avasia, who had subsequently remarried, and her step-children, Jimmy Avasia and Shernaz Lawyer had created a fake will to "usurp” the estate, MM mentions.

According to the newspaper, Sukhad-walla claims that there had been no contact between Jamshed, who died in August 2010 and Avasia, since their acrimonious divorce in 1959. Jamshed’s will, dated June 9, 2008 does not mention Avasia at all, and the copy of Purvez’s will dated November 22, 2010 naming her as the "sole beneficiary,” which she and her step-children have produced, is allegedly "forged.” Sukhadwalla claims he discovered the alleged "forgery” when he filed a testamentary petition in December 2011 to execute Purvez’s will. Avasia and Lawyer subsequently filed a caveat in the BHC, and produced affidavits opposing the probate granted to Sukhadwalla to execute the will, reports MM.

Lawyer has filed an application in the BHC to restrain Sukhadwalla from selling or creating third party interest in the properties. Though Sukhadwalla has been directed by the BHC to file a disclosure affidavit regarding the properties’ status, he has been permitted access to the properties. A division bench of the BHC has ordered an inventory of Purvez’s assets, to be submitted in a sealed envelope, which will be opened only after the disposal of the case, notes MM.

The will submitted by Sukhadwalla states that the entire estate — barring some bequests to Purvez’s domestic help — be given to charity (to be named by Sukhadwalla), reports MM. Two relatives of the Dalal family have also moved the BHC, one maintaining that the wish of the owner to give the money to charity should be honored; the other claiming that both the wills are "bogus” and both parties should be restrained from dealing with the estate, MM reveals.

Lawyer’s rejoinder, filed in the BHC, from which MM has quoted, questions the authenticity of the second will produced by Sukhadwalla, as the registration was carried out hurriedly. During the last few months of his life Purvez was not mentally sound the rejoinder notes, and he was coerced into preparing the will dated July 8, 2011 which is with Sukhad­walla, states MM. Lawyer and Avasia maintain that Purvez came into contact with Su­khadwalla just 10 months before his death, and it is highly improbable that he would trust him with the management of his estate on such limited association, mentions MM. "The purported bequest to charity is a modus devised by Sukhadwalla... for the purpose of wrongful and illegal gain,” the rejoinder avers.

Justice A. A. Sayed, hearing the matter in the BHC, said that though Avasia divorced her first husband, she is entitled to challenge Sukhadwalla, as per the MM report.