A CATHOLIC order of friars which has taken vows of poverty is embroiled in a $1 million legal stoush over a woman's bequest.
The woman's adult children were devastated to learn their migrant mother had left the bulk of her hard-earned fortune to a church.
The children were left $20,000 each, while a church their mother rarely attended got a $1 million windfall in the form of a house in North Fitzroy.
Neither of her grandsons, one of whom suffers from autism, developmental delay and hydrocephalus - fluid on the brain - were beneficiaries of the will.
Assuna Muto was a migrant success story.
She was a mail-order bride from Italy who worked hard to provide for her children. She worked overtime in factories to raise her son and daughter after she separated from her husband.
Mrs Muto's family was shocked to discover she bequeathed the bulk of her estate to the Order of the Capuchin Franciscan Fathers and its church in Hawthorn.
They claim she had little to do with the Catholic Church and
attended only three times a year - at Christmas, Easter and the feast
day of St Anthony.
She left money to the church to care for orphans in Australia and overseas, but in court documents her daughter, Angela Kolandt, said: "I doubt that my mother would have any idea about orphans under the control of the Franciscan Fathers."
Mrs Kolandt and her brother, Giacomo Muto, have launched a Supreme Court action against the religious order, claiming their mother did not make "adequate provision" for them in her will.
The 82-year-old woman died last January and her will was granted probate in August with court documents showing she had a $1 million house in trendy North Fitzroy and almost $40,000 in cash.
Affidavits supporting the fight against the church show that Italian-born Mrs Muto married Eugenio Muto by proxy and migrated to Australia in 1948.
Mr Muto said in court documents that his parents separated in 1967 and his mother essentially raised the children and paid off a mortgage by working overtime in a factory.
"Our mother was always very frugal with money, she had to be, as she had the expenses and costs of maintaining her two children and paying off the mortgage," he said.
Mr Muto lived at home with his mother until he was 37 in 1986-1987 and moved out to a unit 7km away, while his sister lived 9km away so they could keep in close contact with her.
Both children visited their mother daily, maintained her house and cared for her as she became more frail, Mr Muto said.
They later took turns to stay with their mother overnight, so she was not left alone.
Mr Muto lives on an old-age pension and superannuation in a Preston West unit with his mother's German shepherd, Zeena.
Mrs Kolandt said in court documents that when her first son was born in 1997, she visited her mother with him daily, then when her second son was born in 2001 with disabilities, she still visited daily.
Mrs Kolandt is a full-time carer for her disabled son.
Mrs Muto's children declined to comment outside court, as did the law firm acting on behalf of the church.
SIC: HS/AUS