Family feud explodes over $12m fortune as ‘Centrelink heiress’ refuses to work because she has ADHD
EXCLUSIVE
A ‘Centrelink heiress’ who cannot inherit her late father’s fortune because she refuses to work has become embroiled in a legal dispute with the cousin who is blocking her access to her father’s $12 million estate.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal private schoolgirl Clare Brown faces a new front in her war over the inheritance of her father, wealthy stockbroker Christopher Hylton Brown.
Ms Brown, who was educated at elite Sydney private school Ascham, was sensationally excluded from inheriting her father’s estate after he died in January 2022 due to bizarre clauses included in the family trust.
Those clauses essentially required her to “get a job and contribute to society,” according to members of her family. Mrs. Brown says she cannot work because she has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Ms Brown – who was evicted from one of her late father’s two $6 million apartments in Sydney’s exclusive Darling Point – has now become embroiled in a probate case that will make its first court appearance next year.
Her cousin, pub industry entrepreneur Benjamin Sweeten, and his partner Elizabeth Howlatt, are listed as the claimants in the case, with Ms Brown listed as a cautioner and defendant.
Mr Sweeten’s twin brother Jimmy exposed the feud when he told A Current Affair two years ago that the stumbling block for Ms Brown in inheriting her father’s estate was that she needed a job.
‘Centrelink heiress’ Clare Brown was evicted from her father’s $6 million Sydney Harbor mansion – and swapped it for this Mount Druitt home (above) after a dispute over her late father’s will
Jimmy and Ben Sweeten are cousins of Clare Brown involved in the family battle over their uncle’s $12 million estate, which will now be heard in the Victorian Supreme Court
Mrs. Brown is pictured above in 2022
‘One clause was to get a job, another clause was to contribute something to society. Check these two boxes and you will have access to all the money you want,” he told Channel Nine.
But Mrs Brown, who says she cannot work because she has ADHD, has disputed the fairness and legality of her father’s demands and said getting a job was ‘not going to happen’.
“You need to look at my diagnosis,” said Ms Brown, who has high-functioning autism and an NDIS carer.
Jimmy Sweeten described the family feud and Mrs Brown’s status as a benefit recipient as ‘simply shameful’.
“Instead of going along with her late father’s wishes, she turned around and sued her trust,” he said.
“We’d like her to get a job and just contribute to society,” said Mr Sweeten, who runs landscaping company Showtime Lawns.
‘She doesn’t know anything about a hard day’s work.
“And to have a cousin who has millions at his fingertips and is taking the government’s money every week is very embarrassing and very un-Australian.”
Ms Brown swapped this $6 million Darling Point apartment for Mount Druitt, in Sydney’s west. She has long been fighting a clause in her father’s trust that requires her to get a job
Growing up as an only child, Clare Brown attended the elite private girls’ school Ascham and traveled the world with her wealthy father while making millions in the stock market.
Mrs. Brown (right) with wife Lauren Barr. The couple, who are both on benefits and have multiple health problems, say they are broke despite Clare’s multimillion-dollar inheritance
Clare Brown is an only child and growing up she traveled the world with her wealthy father as he made millions in the stock market.
As an adult, she said she tried to work for Autism Australia, training for about an hour to become a barista, surviving on a $500-a-week allowance from her father.
She admitted receiving benefits while still receiving the $500 a week, but said it was out of necessity and “financial abuse.”
“I didn’t start at Centrelink because I wanted to, my dad kept cutting me off,” she said.
Ms Brown ended up in a cramped rental home in Sydney‘struggle street’ suburb of Mount Druitt four years ago when she was forced to leave her father’s $6 million apartment with stunning views of Sydney Harbour.
Mrs Brown was living with her wife Lauren Barr when her father arranged for Benjamin Sweeten to move in rent-free in exchange for renovating the property.
Jimmy Sweeten claimed the couple had ‘destroyed’ the flat, which Mrs Brown denied, adding that ‘he is in the lap of luxury in Darling Point. It’s annoying.’
About the feud with her cousins, she said, “I don’t even call them family. We share blood and that’s all.’
Ben Sweeten is listed as the plaintiff in the looming court hearing over his late uncle’s $12 million estate, which Ms. Brown must work and contribute to society to inherit the fortune.
Wife Lauren said Ms Brown’s late mother Catherine would be ‘devastated to know this was happening at the hands of her own cousin’.
On the other side of the cousins, Jimmy Sweeten said his late uncle “would be ashamed.”
‘We’re just at our wits’ end. We’ve done nothing but love Clare.’
An obituary for Christopher Hylton Brown three years ago reads: ‘Died peacefully in Melbourne on January 19, 2022.
‘He was much loved by daughter Clare, late wife Catherine, cousin Benjamin and partner Elizabeth.’
The probate stoush is expected to go to trial next year.