Petschelt v Petschelt [2002] NSWSC 706

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Petschelt v Petschelt [2002] NSWSC 706 CURRENT JURISDICTION: Equity Division FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 4563/01 HEARING DATE(S) : 1, 2, 3 May 2002 JUDGMENT DATE : 12 August 2002

Melina Petschelt (Plaintiff) PARTIES : Anton Theodor Petschelt (First Defendant) Rosita Hedwig Bachmann (Second Defendant) JUDGMENT OF : Master McLaughlin

COUNSEL : D.M. Coulton, A. McLean (Plaintiff) M.A. Bradford (Defendants) SOLICITORS : Joanne Muller, Solicitor (Plaintiff) Lawrence N Dunn, Solicitor (Defendants) CATCHWORDS : Succession - Family provision - Claim by adult daughter - Proceedings out of time - Financial and material circumstances of Plaintiff - Plaintiff suffers a serious medical condition and is incapable of employment - Whether PLaintiff has been left without adequate provision for her proper maintenance - Notinal estate - First Defendant was sole beneficiary of testator - First Defendant has largely distributed assets of estate - Those assets have mostly been placed by First Defendant in superannuation funds, where practically they are inaccessible to him until he achieves the age of sixty-five - Property held by testator as joint tenant passed to First Defendant by survivorship - First Defendant sold that property and with proceeds of sale purchased property in joint ownership with Second Defendant - Whether an order should be made designating that property notional estate - Importance of not interfering with reasonable expectations in relation to property - Substantial justice and merits involved in making or refusing to make such an order. LEGISLATION CITED : Family Provision Act 1982 CASES CITED : Singer v Berghouse (1994) 181 CLR 208 Wade v Harding (1987) 11 NSWLR 551 DECISION : See paragraph 77.