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 court dispute with the cousin who is blocking her from her dad’s $12m estate.

Daily Mail Australia can reveal private schoolgirl Clare Brown faces a new front in her war over the inheritance left by her father, wealthy stockbroker Christopher Hylton Brown. 

Ms Brown, who was educated at elite Sydney private school Ascham, was sensationally blocked from inheriting her father’s estate after he died in January 2022, because of bizarre clauses inserted in the family trust.

Those clauses essentially stipulated she needed to ‘get a job and contribute something to society’, according to members of her family. Ms Brown says she cannot work as she has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Ms Brown – who was turfed out of one of her late father’s two $6m apartments in Sydney’s exclusive Darling Point – has now become embroiled in a probate stoush that will have its first day in court next year. 

Her first cousin, cafe industry entrepreneur Benjamin Sweeten, and his partner Elizabeth Howlatt, are listed as the plaintiffs in the case, with Ms Brown listed as caveator and defendant.

Mr Sweeten’s twin brother, Jimmy, laid bare the feud when he told A Current Affair two years ago that the stumbling block to Ms Brown inheriting her father’s estate was that she needed to have a job. 

‘Centrelink heiress’ Clare Brown was turfed out of her dad’s $6m mansion on Sydney Harbour – trading it in for this Mount Druitt house (above) after a dispute over her late father’s will

Jimmy and Ben Sweeten are first cousins of Clare Brown involved in the family fight over their uncle’s $12m estate which is now due to be heard in the Victorian Supreme Court

Ms Brown is pictured above in 2022 

‘One clause was to get a job, another clause is to contribute something to society. Tick those two boxes and you can access all the money you like,’ he told Channel Nine.

But Ms Brown, who says she can’t work because she has Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), has disputed the fairness and legality of her father’s demands, saying that her getting a job ‘is not going to happen’.

‘You have to look at my diagnosis,’ said Ms Brown who has high-functioning autism and an NDIS carer.

Jimmy Sweeten described the family feud and Ms Brown’s status as a welfare recipient as ‘just embarrassing’.

‘Instead of agreeing to her dead dad’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 business Showtime Lawns. 

‘She doesn’t know the first thing about a hard day’s work.

‘And to have a cousin who has millions at her fingertips sit and take the government’s money every week is highly embarrassing and highly un-Australian.’ 

Ms Brown swapped this $6m Darling Point apartment for Mount Druitt, in Sydney’s west. She has long been fighting against a clause in her father’s trust which says she must get a job 

Clare Brown grew up as an only child attending elite private girls’ school Ascham and travelling the world with her wealthy dad as he made millions on the stock market

Ms Brown (right) with wife Lauren Barr. The couple, who are both on welfare with multiple health issues, say they are broke despite Clare’s inheritance of millions

Clare Brown is an only child and, growing up, she travelled the world with her wealthy dad as he made millions on the stock market.

As an adult she said she tried working for Autism Australia, and lasted about an hour training as a barista, surviving on a $500-a-week allowance from her father.

She admitted she had gone on the dole while still receiving the $500-a-week, but said it was from necessity and ‘financial abuse’. 

‘I didn’t start on Centrelink because I wanted to, my dad kept on cutting me off,’ she said.

Ms Brown ended up in a cramped rental property in Sydney‘s ‘struggle street’ suburb of Mount Druitt four years ago when she was forced to leave her father’s $6m apartment with stunning Sydney Harbour views.

Ms Brown had been 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 ‘trashed’ the flat, which Ms Brown denied, adding that ‘he’s in the lap of luxury in Darling Point. It’s infuriating.’

Of the fall-out with her first cousins, she said, ‘I don’t even call them family. We share blood and that’s it’.

Ben Sweeten is listed as the plaintiff in the looming court hearing over the $12m estate of his late uncle, who 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 that this happening from her own nephew’.

From the opposing side of the cousins, Jimmy Sweeten said his late uncle ‘would be embarrassed. 

‘We’re just at our wit’s end. We have done nothing but love Clare.’ 

A death notice for Christopher Hylton Brown three years ago reads that he: ‘Died peacefully in Melbourne on 19th January 2022.

‘He was dearly loved by daughter Clare, late wife Catherine, nephew Benjamin and partner Elizabeth.’

The probate stoush is expected to go to court next year. 

***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk