Dogs get $1m but sons nothing

Two mongrel farm dogs are reportedly rolling in it after inheriting $1 million from their owner, while the man's two sons failed to receive a cent.

The North Island farmer's will is at the centre of a bitter legal wrangle after he left a quarter of his $4 million estate to his dogs.

The estate was last week contested in the High Court at Auckland by the man's third wife and sons from his first marriage.

The case, heard under the Matrimonial Property Act, was closed to the public.

Those involved refused to comment, but the Sunday Star-Times said the feud had been raging since 1997, when the farmer died of cancer.

He left most of his fortune to family friends, while the dogs received $1 million to provide for them while they remained alive.

Any money left when they died was to go to friends.

The third wife was left $200,000 but the sons received nothing.

The sons had had little contact with their father since he left their mother when they were young.

One of them had tracked his father down with the help of a private detective, and the other contacted him when he heard his father was dying. But the farmer refused to see them.

The dogs are reportedly still living on the farm, which is run by a trust. - NZPA