Parents locked in battle over Slain Policeman's Estate

Slain Policeman Don Wilkinson. Parents locked in battle over his estate

Story courtesy of yahooxtra
The estranged parents of slain undercover Policeman Don Wilkinson are locked in a bitter dispute over their son's "slapdash" will and $2 million fortune, according to a story to be published in North and South magazine today.



Mr Wilkinson, who was fatally shot during a night-time police surveillance operation in Mangere in September 2008, left his adoptive father, Ron Wilkinson, all his assets, including a $900,000 property in Helensville, northwest of Auckland, $70,000 in cash, some investments and a six-figure payment from police insurance and superannuation, the magazine as reported by The New Zealand Herald said.


Mr Wilkinson wrote the will in 1985 before going to work in Antarctica.


At the time, his assets were two guitars and a second-hand car.


His mother Bev Lawrie said she was close to her son and he would be horrified that she was left with nothing.


"Don would be horrified, he'd just be absolutely horrified," she said. "It [the will] was just slapdash because he was off on a big adventure ..."


Efforts to talk to her ex-husband had fallen on deaf ears, she said.


"If it had been me, I'd have given him half of whatever."


Ron Wilkinson told the magazine his son had made a choice.


"Don was a 47-year-old police officer, not a 15-year-old handicapped child. He left a will and it was adhered to."


Under the Family Protection Act, potential claimants have 12 months after a will is probated to bring a claim.