When Daryl Curmi and his partner found their dream home seven months ago, they entrusted their life savings to their notary, Ivan Barbara, as part of the process of buying the property. But Barbara’s sudden death in April after contracting COVID-19 while adopting a child in India has left Curmi and other clients in a state of anxious limbo trying to recover their hard-earned deposits. According to the Notarial Council, Barbara’s widow, Rosanne, has renounced her husband’s inheritance, forfeiting any assets or responsibility for pending debt. It means it is unclear who the legal heir is. “When I found out that his widow renounced his inheritance, I was in utter disbelief,” Curmi told Times of Malta. “I didn’t even know this was something you could do with a notary’s client accounts,” he said. He has now been left questioning where his money has gone and how to get access to it. The Notary Council had asked the attorney general to hand over any deeds and wills published by Barbara to the government’s chief notary to fast-track the process of checking for potential breach of contract. On Tuesday, the government chief notary, Keith Francis German, was appointed as the notary...