Advice on an inheritance issue

Ok here's the situation. My husband and I want to open a southern restaurant in Canada. I'm a chef and he's going to wait tables and handle the register. Up til now we haven't been able to find an investor. Recently, a girl we've known for a long time who lives in Australia, told us some things about her. First, her aunt or grandmother died about a year ago and left her a large sum of money, over $2.6 million. Second, she has leukemia and is dying. She wants to come here and stay with us. Also, she says she has no need for the money and doesn't want to leave it to her relatives. So she wants to finance our restaurant for us. She's not expecting anything back. Just a place to stay for the rest of her time. By the way, I've had a lot of people tell me not to trust this. If you are one of those people that will, please don't answer this question. I only want advice on the legal matters. Right now I'm simply giving you the situation so you can understand all of it and give me a good answer. A lawyer specializing in this would be best, but experiences are welcome too. I just need any advice before my husband and I tell her we want to do this. Cause we don't want to risk it later.

So, we found a place for $2.5 million. She has already said she doesn't mind if we use all of her money as she doesn't need it. It's a huge place. On this huge piece of land we're buying, there's a restaurant, a house, a suite, two apartments, a huge wraparound deck, lots of gardens, an indoor tennis court, an outdoor tennis court, a hot tub with the house, a lake, our own dock, it's gated, and there's enough room to build a second house.

She's 23 years old. Her parents have told her that it's her money and she can do what she wants with it. However, her sister is against it. The account with the money in it is in my friend's name and her aunt specifically specified in her will that the money belonged to my friend. And she wants to spend it helping us get our restaurant up because she wants to do something good before she goes for someone else.

My question is, after my friend is gone, will her sister or any other family member be able to sue us for the money our friend gave us? Will they be able to say that she was sick so she couldn't make up her own mind about it? What papers, if any, legal wise, can we have drawn up proving that she was of sound mind and body and wants us to keep this restaurant and will legally not allow her family to touch it at all? In other words, how can we make sure that we won't have to pay this money to her family later on if they try to come after us for it?

Macadoo 1

You are on the right track when stating that a lawyer should get involved. The legalities of your situation should be put into writing while your friend is still with you. The location that you mention sounds like an ideal place but please remember that although you are investing a large amount of money you should write a business plan and talk that over with a lawyer or maybe some people from SCORE. If everything is lay-ed out in writing I think you have a good chance of succeeding without family being involved or protesting the money that is being given to you. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.

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