Estate Rofe [2021] NSWSC 257

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Estate Rofe [2021] NSWSC 257 Hearing dates: 25-27 August; 1-3, 8-10, 15-17, 22-24, 29 September; 20 October; 4, 25 November 2020 and written submissions Decision date: 12 April 2021 Jurisdiction: Equity - Probate List Before: Lindsay J Decision: Subject to allowing the parties an opportunity to make submissions about the identity of the person or persons to whom a grant of representation is to be made, the form of orders to be made in disposition of the proceedings and costs, the will of the deceased dated 17 December 2014 is to be admitted to probate. Catchwords: SUCCESSION – Contested Probate – Testamentary capacity – Cognitive impairment resulting from vascular dementia not necessarily inconsistent with a finding of capacity SUCCESSION – Contested Probate – Knowledge and approval – Suspicious circumstances – Testator suffering from dementia assisted in will preparation by interested persons – Need for close scrutiny of all circumstances SUCCESSION – Contested Probate – Undue influence – Will of testator of doubtful testamentary capacity overborne by incessant demands of interested person – Intervention of solicitor did not break nexus between coercion and execution of impugned codicil Legislation Cited: Administration and Probate Act 1958 Vic Bankruptcy Act 1966 Cth Civil Procedure Act 2005 NSW Evidence Act 1995 NSW Guardianship Act 1987 NSW Succession Act 2006 NSW Wills Act 1837 Eng Cases Cited: Bailey v Bailey (1924) 34 CLR 558 Banks v Goodfellow (1870) LR 5 QB 549 Bates v Messner (1967) 67 SR (NSW) 187 Blendell v Byrne [2019] NSWSC 583 Bridgewater v Leahy (1998) 194 CLR 457 Carr v Homersham (2018) 97 NSWLR 328 Dickman v Holley [2013] NSWSC 18 Drivas v Jakopovic (2019) 100 NSWLR 505 Estate Kouvakis; Lucas v Konakas [2014] NSWSC 786 Gerovich v Gerovich [2021] WASC 77 Gill v Woodall [2011] Ch 380 Gray v Hart; Estate of Harris (No. 2) [2012] NSWSC 1562 Hall v Hall (1868) LR 1 P & D 481 Hoff v Atherton [2004] EWCA Civ 155; [2005] WTLR 99; [2005] WTLR 99 In the Goods of William Loveday [1900] P 154 King v Hudson [2009] NSWSC 1013 Mekhail v Hana [2019] NSWCA 197 Mitchell v Gard (1863) 3 Sw & Tr 275; 164 ER 1280 Nock v Austin (1918) 25 CLR 519 Perpetual Trustee Co. Ltd v Baker [1999] NSWCA 244 Perpetual Trustee Co. Ltd v Fairlie-Cunninghame (1993) 32 NSWLR 377 Petrovski v Nasev [2011] NSWSC 1275 Re Estate of Paul Francis Hodges, Deceased; Shorter v Hodges (1988) 14 NSWLR 698 Re Estate of Wai Fun Chan, Deceased [2015] NSWSC 1107 Re Griffith; Easter v Griffith (1995) 217 CLR 284 Romascu v Manolache [2011] NSWSC 1362 Stojic v Stojic [2018] NSWCA 28 Timbury v Coffee (1941) 66 CLR 277 Tobin v Ezekiel (2012) 83 NSWLR 757; [2012] NSWCA 285 Trustee for the Salvation Army (NSW) Property Trust v Becker [2007] NSWCA 136 Veall v Veall (2015) 46 VR 123 Winter v Crichton; Estate of Galieh (1991) 23 NSWLR 116 Wingrove v Wingrove (1885) 11 PD 81 Yazbek v Yazbek (No. 2) [2012] NSWSC 783 Texts Cited: EV Williams, A Treatise on the Law of Executors and Administrators – Volume 1 (1832 & 1841 editions) Godolphin, The Orphan's Legacy, a testamentary abridgment, in Three parts. I. Of last wills and testaments. II. Of executors and administrators. III Of legacies and devises (first edition, 1673; fourth edition, 1701) MS Willmott and CP Birtles, "Testamentary Dispositions – Wills and Codicils" (2016) 43 Australian Bar Review 62 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Plaintiff: Ralph Nicklin Illek First Defendant: Brendan Hull Second Defendant: Philip Rofe Third Defendant: Gregg Hele Fourth Defendant: James Rofe Fifth Defendant: Anne Stone Sixth Defendant: Susan Erkinnen Seventh Defendant: David Stone Eighth Defendant: Scott Taylor Ninth Defendant: Nobert Lipton Tenth Defendant: Jonathan Rofe Eleventh Defendant: Nicholas Llewellyn Twelfth Defendant: Elaine Clark by her Tutor Elizabeth Foster Thirteenth Defendant: Paul Leroy as Trustee in the Bankrupt Estate of Katherine Jackson Representation: Counsel: Plaintiff: RD Wilson SC and S Chapple First Defendant: Submitting Appearance Second Defendant: L Ellison SC and MJ Heath Third to Eighth Defendants: TJ Morahan Ninth Defendant: Submitting Appearance Tenth Defendant: TJ Morahan Eleventh Defendant: N Confos Twelfth Defendant: Submitting Appearance Thirteenth Defendant: Submitting Appearance