Teen Loses Battle for Share of Estate

An intellectually disabled 17-year-old lost a New Zealand Supreme Court battle for a share of his stepfather’s $2.2 million estate because he was still in his mother’s womb when his mother married.

The Family Protection Act does not recognize unborn children as stepchildren.  Alyxe Wood-Luxford was 4 years old when his mother and stepfather were killed in a car crash.  He was not included in their wills because they were executed the day after the wedding, six months before his birth.

See Morgan Tait, Teen Loses Battle for Share of $2.2M Estate, The New Zealand Herald, Dec. 19, 2013.