By Darryl Browne -
Key decisions
- Re Paul Allan Weeks; ex parte Weeks [2016] WASC 25
- Re Janette Eleanor Counsel; Ex parte the Public Trustee [2016] WASC 47
- Sanwick Pty Limited v Kalyk [2016] NSWSC 100
- Phillips v McCabe [2016] SASC 27
- Application of Perpetual Trustee Company Ltd; Re: Estate of the late Evelyn Mary Dempsey [2016] NSWSC 159
Court approval for settlement of a family provision claim
The deceased’s disabled son was left out of the will. His financial manager brought a claim for family provision. The claim was settled between the financial manager and executor, but the court at first instance refused to make an order giving effect to the parties’ agreement. On appeal, the Queensland Court of Appeal stated that once the jurisdictional question had been satisfied, considerable weight must be given by the court to the parties’ agreement, so that it would only be in unusual circumstances that the court would not approve the agreement of parties who are of full age and where there is no evidence of undue influence (Abrahams (by his litigation guardian The Public Trustee of Queensland) v Abrahams [2015] QCA 286). An instance in NSW of a court making the orders sought by the parties, even though the Court was not convinced that they were appropriate is Mackin v Roger Belmonte as executor of the estate of the late Doris Hilda Mackin; Kylie Ann Mackin v Roger Belmonte [2015] NSWSC 1848.
