Houston Estate Planning and Elder Law Attorney Blog
It’s not exactly what most parents would want their children to use their inheritance for, but we suspect that this mother would have been very proud of her son.
John Bickman Walls told his son Pelle Walls, who was then 17, that his mother, Walls’ ex-wife, had committed suicide. Walls said that his ex-wife, Uta von Schwedler, a well-respected scientist, was found drowned in a bathtub.
Pelle was devastated, and before too long he began to suspect that his father had a hand in his mother's death. His father began acting strangely and saying things like "What if I did do it?" This behavior continued. When he reached the age of 18, Pelle moved out on his own. He eventually managed to get his siblings out of his father's control, due to the latter's erratic behavior.
Pelle became so convinced that his father murdered his mother that he spent the inheritance he received from her to file a civil lawsuit for wrongful death against his father. The lawsuit allowed Pelle to get his father under oath on the witness stand, where the older man's erratic statements continued. It also allowed Pelle to have an expert examine the evidence and testify that the scene of his mother's death showed signs of a struggle.
Pelle won his case. In fact, it was so convincingly won that his father was charged criminally and convicted of the murder.
Metro reported this story in "Son spent his inheritance proving his father was guilty of murdering his mother four years after her death."
While Pelle Wall's mother probably would have preferred her son be able to use any inheritance he received from her for other things, she can rest easy knowing it was used to make sure she received justice.
Reference: Metro (August 23, 2015) "Son spent his inheritance proving his father was guilty of murdering his mother four years after her death."