Facts
The appellant, [A.] , was the life partner of the deceased, [D.] , who died on xx.xx.2015. The legal heirs of the deceased are his children, [B.] and [C.] . The appellant sued the children of the deceased for division of the estate and claimed that she was the appointed heir of the deceased due to his last will and was entitled to a share of the estate within the available quota.
The District Court of Höfe dismissed the complaint and ordered the appellant to pay the court costs and compensate the respondents. The Cantonal Court of Schwyz confirmed the judgment of the District Court. The appellant requested the Federal Court to overturn the cantonal judgments and instruct the Cantonal Court and the District Court to grant her free legal aid and representation in the proceedings before the District Court.
Considerations
The Federal Court dismissed the appellant's complaint. The appellant had denied the alleged abuse of law and claimed that she had not consumed her assets or waived the generation of income for the purpose of obtaining free legal aid. However, the Cantonal Court had contradicted this view and held that the appellant had known since the official opening of the will on December 31, 2015, that she was not entitled to a share of the estate based on the summary examination of the opening authority.
The Federal Court found that the appellant's legal requests could not be qualified as hopeless from the outset, as the…