Woman nearly shut out of mother's estate sues brother in B.C. Supreme Court – and wins

Woman challenges mom's will over gender bias When a B.C. senior died and left most of her assets to her son, a court battle ensued over gender bias in estate planning.

Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

“We have a two-car garage in my family home, and my mom told me to move my car so my brother could park in the garage,” said Lam. “At family dinners, the nicer pieces of the meat or fish were presented in front of him.”

And Lam said she was told in no uncertain terms the favouritism would be reflected in the distribution of her mother’s estate. “My brother was the boy, and he was going inherit,” said Lam. “I asked her, why is that? And she goes, ‘Well, because this is our Chinese custom, and everything goes to the boy.’”

When Law died in 2021 at the age of 74, that’s exactly what happened.

"I was very angry, I was very hurt," said Lam, who was her mother's primary caregiver in her final years. "I felt like I had done something wrong, and I felt ashamed because I was like, what is my worth being a woman?”

The court heard Lam's brother received approximately $2.2 million, both under the will and during their mother's lifetime, while Lam received just under $630,000.

Lam, who owns and operates a family entertainment business, said her mother never approved of her being an entrepreneur.

“It was always, ‘Ginny, don't be so smart, no man's going to want you. Your husband is going to leave you if you become too successful or too smart. Just stay at home, go get a secretarial job, and have sons – specifically, have sons,’” said Lam.

Unwilling to accept the unbalanced inheritance, Lam said she confronted her brother William, asking him: “How can you possibly … feel OK with this, just because you were born a boy?”

“He said, ‘Well, this is what mom wanted.’ And I said, ‘I know this is what mom wanted, but you can change it, you have the power to change this.’ He said, ‘I'm not going to change it.’ And the last words he said to me was: ‘Lawyer up.’ And that’s what I did.”

Lam took the case to B.C. Supreme Court, and hired estate lawyer Aubrie Girou.

“Legislation exists in this province and in other provinces and in other countries that protects those persons that are closest to a deceased will-maker, where those persons have been unfairly excluded or unfairly marginalized in the distribution of that person's estate,” said Girou, who added the legislation is limited to children and spouses of the deceased.

Ultimately, the judge sided with Lam, ruling she had been unfairly marginalized in the distribution of her mother’s estate because of her gender.

“It's not that the court found there was a difference in the diligence or the care that either child provided to their parent, rather that the household was this gendered household, and Mrs. Law, the deceased, held outdated beliefs as to what was the role and entitlements for a son versus the role and entitlements for a daughter,” said Girou.

The court ordered the will amended to give Lam 85 per cent of a property that was initially split 50-50 in the will – but her lawyers noted that is nowhere close to what her brother received outside of the will.

“The result is not going to be equality, it can't be,” said Girou. “Ginny’s mother wanted to prefer her son, Ginny’s brother, and she did. And so her autonomy in that regard is preserved. But what this decision gives us is some equity.”

“The victory is not so much monetary,” said Lam. “Really, this was more about saying it's not OK in terms of principle. That it's not OK to be treated to be a second-class citizen, to be treated any less, just because I was born a girl.”

The court battle has left her family fractured. But Lam hopes it inspires other women to stand up for their rights under the law.

“I have daughters as well, and I wanted to show them that this is not your story. No one can tell you what your worth is just based on your gender,” said Lam. “And now, because of my case, there is a precedent that was set, that basically says, you can't do this.”

Sept. 20, 2024 update: Lam told CTV News her brother has filed an appeal of the court's decision.