Families still hope for share in Brazilian estate

Press, 16 February 1984, Page 23

Families still hope for share in Brazilian estate

PA Wellington A South American court’s recent rejection of claims to a multi-million-dollar proey has not dashed the s of some New Zealanders linked with the Brazilian estate. Organisers of the 160 New Zealand families staking their claims remain steadfast that they are legal heirs to the $lB,OOO million estate. Claims on the estate of a Brazilian rancher were rejected last month by the Court of Appeal in Rio Grande do Sul, said a spokesman for the New Zealanders, Mrs Vivienne McConnell, yesterday. The lawyer acting for some of the New Zealanders Mr Jose Cicero Biuglia, of Sao Paulo, wrote to Mrs McConnell with the news of the setback last month.

“He said the case had been rejected by the Court of Appeal, and that they were going to take it to the Supreme Court,” said Mrs McConnell, of Te Araroa, near East Cape. But she has not lost hope. “I do honestly believe there is something to it. There is land there, but it is like Maori land here — you cannot put your hands on it. “I object to its being called a fairy tale. I do not think for one minute that it is a fairy tale,” she said. The New Zealanders established a link with a wealthy Brazilian rancher, Dom Domingos Faustino Correa, who died in 1873, disinheriting his immediate family. They are related through Correa’s nephew, Manuel Li~ia, who came to New Zealand and died at Te Araroa in 1903. Mr Biuglia, who met the

New Zealand families in Tikitiki last year, confirmed this link and asked a fee of $460 from each claimant, a total of nearly $BO,OOO, to act on their behalf. So far, Brazilian courts have rejected all applications under a law that bans claims on an estate made more than 20 years after the death of the owner. Mrs McConnell believes the case will be taken to the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court. However, the honorary consul for Brazil in New Zealand, Mr Frank Thorpy, said it was unrealistic to feel that the Brazilian Supreme Court would alter the decision. “There were 1431 files produced in court. I take it they were from various claimants, with a lot of people from Uruguay,” Mr Thorpy said.