Sckaff v Sckaff [2023] NSWSC 1582

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Sckaff v Sckaff [2023] NSWSC 1582 Hearing dates: 19 – 23 June 2023 Date of orders: 15 December 2023 Decision date: 15 December 2023 Jurisdiction: Equity Before: Robb J Decision: See [277] Catchwords: ESTOPPEL – proprietary estoppel – standing by – where the defendants are the registered proprietors of a property – where the first defendant allowed the plaintiffs to occupy the property for around 25 years before taking any formal steps to challenge their right to possession – where the plaintiffs made significant expenditures towards the renovation of the property during the course of their occupation – where dispute regarding ownership of the property has arisen in an informal family context – where almost all crucial evidence has been lost to the passage of time – whether the plaintiffs are the beneficial owners of the property – consideration of the credibility and reliability of the available witness and expert evidence to reconstruct the relevant historical events – held that the silence of the first defendant as the legal owner of the property had the effect of reinforcing the assumption of the plaintiffs that the first plaintiff was the sole beneficial owner of the property – held that the plaintiffs suffered real detriment as a result of the first plaintiff having acted on the belief that he was the sole beneficial owner of the property – proprietary estoppel made out – orders made for the defendants to transfer the title to the property to the plaintiffs Legislation Cited: Conveyancing Act 1919 (NSW), s 23C Residential Tenancies Act 2010 (NSW), s 94 Succession Act NSW (2006), s 58(2) Cases Cited: Brown v New South Wales Trustee and Guardian [2012] NSWCA 431; (2012) 10 ASTLR 164 Clayton v Clayton [2023] NSWSC 399 DHJPM Pty Ltd v Blackthorn Resources Ltd (formerly called AIM Resources Ltd) (2011) 83 NSWLR 728; [2011] NSWCA 348 Evans v Evans [2011] NSWCA 92 Giumelli v Giumelli (1999) 196 CLR 101; [1999] HCA 10 Hansen v Noble [2021] NSWSC 138; (2021) 20 BPR 41,181 John Holland Pty Limited v Kellogg Brown & Root Pty Ltd [2015] NSWSC 451 Orr v Ford (1989) 167 CLR 316; [1989] HCA 4 Q (a pseudonym) v E Co (a pseudonym) [2020] NSWCA 220; (2020) 383 ALR 469 Rixon v Horseshoe Pastoral Co Pty Ltd [2017] NSWSC 1293 Shepherd v Doolan [2005] NSWSC 42 Watson v Foxman (1995) 49 NSWLR 315 Texts Cited: JD Heydon and MJ Leeming, Jacobs' Law of Trusts in Australia (8th ed, 2016, LexisNexis Butterworths) Category: Principal judgment Parties: George Sckaff (First Plaintiff/First Cross Defendant) Anne Thompson (Second Plaintiff/Second Cross Defendant) Richard Sckaff (First Defendant/First Cross Claimant) Nada Sckaff (Second Defendant/Second Cross Claimant) Representation: Counsel: N Obrart and C Angus (Plaintiffs) D Knoll and J Sukkar (Defendants)