Family won’t give woman her R136m inheritance until she gets a job

Clare Brown calls herself a broke millionaire because of her peculiar circumstances. Picture: Courtney K

Clare Brown calls herself a broke millionaire because of her peculiar circumstances. Picture: Courtney K

Published Jul 7, 2022

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Durban – Families can be too much to deal with at times, when it comes to financial matters.

Clare Brown, an Australian woman, is at her wits end after being denied her staggering R136.5m inheritance that her late father left her.

Brown claims her family members are upholding her father’s wishes that she not receive a cent from the huge estate until she gets full-time employment.

A stock trader, her father died earlier this year. He amassed a massive amount of wealth, but laid out some specifics about how it is supposed to be distributed when it comes to Brown.

Reportedly, there were two clauses in the will; the first was for Brown to get a job; the second one was for her to do something remarkable and have a positive impact on society.

“I have called myself a broke millionaire because I am broke constantly and can’t do anything about it. Give me what is rightfully mine. I am suffering,” Brown said.

Her family is said to have chastised her for not respecting and fulfilling her father’s wishes. Brown has allegedly sued the trust in an attempt to gain access to the money.

Brown, who lives in Sydney with her wife and daughter, said her mental health issues, including ADHD, are what’s getting in the way of her maintaining a stable job.

“I understand why these people want me to be a functioning member of society; however, you have to look at my diagnosis and realise that is not going to happen.

“I am not going to learn how to drive because I have ADHD. I have the attention span of a gnat,” she told a local TV station.

One of South Africa’s leading experts in ADHD, Helena Bester, said the symptoms of the disorder in adults include being absent minded, leave jobs incomplete, a lack of concentration, and being disorganised.

According to Bester, typically adults with ADHD struggle to hold down a job and they often miss out on promotions because they don’t have endurance and are not consistent in what they do.

“A group of them are quite explosive. They won’t be blatantly explosive. But, they hold things in and if circumstances are favourable, then they are okay. But when there is a problem, they’ll have these explosive reactions. We also see intermittent explosiveness all day,” Bester said.

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