Millionaire's Family Sues When Heir Turns Out Not to Be Man's Son

Paternity test revealed no biological connection
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 7, 2019 2:40 PM CST
Millionaire's Family Sues When He Leaves Estate to 'Son' That Wasn't His
   (Getty/roberthyrons)

What happens when a self-made millionaire leaves most of his fortune to his supposed son, only for a paternity test to reveal there was no biological relation between the two men? A lawsuit in British Columbia's Supreme Court that airs a lot of family secrets, per the CBC. Elis Gosta Hjukstrom died in Vancouver in 2017 at age 87, but his extended family (including siblings, nieces, and nephews) lives in Sweden, where he was born. They say Hjukstrom, who moved to Canada in his 20s, returned to Sweden for a visit in 1960 and had a brief romance with childhood friend Ingrid Jonsson. After they split up, Hjukstrom wrote a letter to Jonsson telling her he'd found success starting an import and distribution business; she replied and said she had given birth to a boy a few months after their relationship ended. She later led him to believe he was the boy's father.

Hjukstrom, who never married, started sending her money, and added her and the boy to his will in 1966. She died in 2008, and by 2014, the now-grown Kenth Lundback was listed in Hjukstrom's will as the recipient of the bulk of his estate. But Hjukstrom's family had long suspected deception (another man is listed as the father on Lundback's birth certificate), and after Hjukstrom's death, the executor of his $14 million estate ordered the aforementioned DNA test. But Lundback filed a response with the court saying that Hjukstrom always knew there was a possibility the two were not biologically related, but that after Lundback learned Hjukstrom was (supposedly) his father in 2002, the two met and developed a "warm, happy, and encouraging" bond "akin to a father/son relationship." He says he offered to take a DNA test but Hjukstrom declined. The case is expected to go to trial next year. (Read the full story at the CBC.)

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