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A woman crafted a fake will in an attempt to inherit the multimillion-dollar estate of a man she used to live with. She was caught after a lawyer suspected something was amiss and called in a handwriting expert.
Now, four years on, Sarah Daphne Leigh Blattler, 33, was sentenced on Tuesday in New Plymouth District Court on a charge of dishonestly using a document.
Blattler had been living with the man for several years before he died in September 2019, aged 79.
According to the Crown summary of facts, within a month of his death, she went to the Stratford office of lawyer Ralph Vosseler, who was a trustee of the estate, and gave him a document she claimed to be the man’s final will.
Vosseler inspected it and noted it was “poorly written” and not in the usual format of a will.
He advised Blattler there was a process to follow and that he needed to submit an application to the court.
The summary stated that the will Blattler provided “massively” reduced any benefit the man’s granddaughter was set to receive and instead named Blattler and her partner as the new, major beneficiaries.
Vosseler told NZME the estate was worth “several million dollars”.
About a week after her meeting with Vosseler, Blattler’s mother turned up at his office and gave him what she claimed to be the dead man’s family trust letter of intent.
Blattler appeared in New Plymouth District Court on Tuesday. Photo / Tara Shaskey
The document explained in detail the reasons Blattler and her partner were to become the main beneficiaries and why the granddaughter’s entitlement had been cut.
A few days later, Blattler made another trip to see Vosseler. This time she had her partner with her.
They wanted to know what was happening with the estate.
During the visit, she read aloud the will she had previously provided and Vosseler noted it appeared she had memorised it, suggesting to him that she may have written it herself.
He forwarded the suspicious will and several examples of the dead man’s signature to a handwriting expert.
In January 2020, a report from the expert left Vosseler in no doubt that the signature on the will had been forged.
In September of that year, the granddaughter reported the matter to police, who eventually determined that Blattler was liable for prosecution.
She was first summonsed to court in August last year. At an appearance in June this year, she pleaded guilty to dishonestly using a document, an offence that has a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment.
Today, she returned to the dock and was sentenced by Judge Gregory Hikaka to four months of community detention and 12 months of intensive supervision.
After the sentencing, Vosseler told NZME the estate was yet to be settled but “it is close”.
It was the first time in his legal career of more than 45 years that he had come across a forged will.
“It didn’t take a detective to figure it out,” he said.
The deceased was an “interesting man”, whom he described as well-read and well-versed in general knowledge.
“This will had obviously been written by someone else. Someone of a lesser education standard.”
Tara Shaskey joined NZME in 2022 as a news director and Open Justice reporter. She has been a reporter since 2014 and previously worked at Stuff where she covered crime and justice, arts and entertainment, and Māori issues.
