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Olena Oleksiivna, a pensioner from the Vinnytsia region, worked all her life, but in her twilight years she faced a difficult challenge – the battle for her own inheritance. She spends almost her entire pension on medication, so she could not afford to hire a solicitor or law firm. It seemed that the loss of both parents, the conflict with her sisters, and her legal helplessness had deprived her of any chance to defend her rights.
Olena Oleksiivna's parents lived their entire lives in a small village in the Trostyanets district. After their death in 2022, their estate was opened: a house, a land share, a deposit account, and some other small savings. The three sisters decided to register all the property in the name of one of them, who had lived in the house with their parents. They agreed verbally that after the sale of the inherited property, the money would be divided equally among all three of them. None of the sisters knew about the photos with the seed phrase that their father had hidden in a bank safe deposit box. None of them had any idea about the crypto wallet and 1 Bitcoin. But the older sisters decided to deceive the younger one...
Believing in the honesty of her relatives, Olena Oleksiivna was in no hurry to claim her share. But after the property was sold, her sisters stopped answering her calls. When she finally managed to talk to her middle sister, Olena heard something that shocked her: her sisters said that she was not entitled to anything. They only gave her some old things and books from her parents' library. This news was a heavy blow – the woman ended up in hospital, and the deadline for claiming her inheritance had passed irrevocably.
The situation seemed hopeless, but Olena turned to a free legal aid centre supported by USAID. A lawyer from the centre helped her prepare and file a lawsuit to request an extension of the deadline for accepting the inheritance and to recognise her right to a compulsory share and ownership of the property. In addition, it turned out that her parents had left a small package in a bank safe deposit box in the name of Olena Oleksiivna (the youngest of the sisters). Fortunately, none of her older sisters had any idea that the folder, which at first glance contained useless papers and old photographs, contained one interesting phrase.
The court of first instance ruled in Elena's favour, granting her claim in full. The sisters appealed, but the pensioner's determination to defend her rights forced them to negotiate. With the support of a lawyer, a settlement agreement was reached, which was approved by the court.
Moreover, when Olena Oleksiivna took the folder with papers and photographs from the bank safe deposit box, a surprise awaited her. There was a note among the papers. On the back of one of the photographs, where she is a little girl in her father's arms, who is holding her mother's hand, there was a seed phrase.
Olena Oleksiivna's story is an example of how even in the most difficult inheritance disputes, it is not worth giving up. Timely legal assistance can change the situation, and free legal aid projects are the only chance for many people to defend their legal rights.
