Angela Therese Harvey (nee Alecci) v Eileen Therese Alecci & Anor [2002] NSWSC 898

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Angela Therese Harvey (nee Alecci) v Eileen Therese Alecci & Anor [2002] NSWSC 898 FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 2868/02 HEARING DATE(S) : 17/09/02 JUDGMENT DATE : 17 September 2002

Angela Therese Harvey (nee Alecci) (Plaintiff) PARTIES : Eileen Therese Alecci (First Defendant) Dominic Joseph Alecci (Second Defendant) JUDGMENT OF : Einstein J

COUNSEL : Mr GK Burton (Plaintiff) Mr C Harris (Defendants) SOLICITORS : Richard Harvey & Associates (Plaintiff) Maurice Buckley C T Poole & Son (Defendants) CATCHWORDS : Mediation - Practice and procedure DECISION : Mediation Order not made.

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES EQUITY DIVISION

Einstein J

Tuesday 17 September 2002 ex tempore Revised Friday 27 September 2002

2868/02 Angela Therese Harvey v Eileen Therese Alecci & Anor JUDGMENT 1 In proceedings 2868 of 2002 concerning the estate of Carmello Antonio Alecci, there is before the Court a notice of motion brought by the plaintiff filed on 17 September 2002. 2 The record will show that the statement of claim filed on 28 August 2002 is a statement of claim in which the plaintiff, who is the youngest child of the first defendant, Eileen Therese Alecci, and the late Carmelo Antonio Alecci, ("the deceased"), sues the first defendant and her brother, Dominic Joseph Alecci. 3 The deceased died on 4 September 1964 and no will was located, so that letters of administration on intestacy were granted to the first defendant on 3 May 1965. An administration bond dated 11 March 1965 in respect of the first defendant's administration is said to remain undischarged. 4 Under the intestacy rules which operated at the time of the deceased's death, the following beneficiaries were entitled in their respective shares set out below to the distribution of the estate of their late father: One-third to the first defendant as the widow of the deceased; Two-fifteenths to each of the children of the deceased and the first defendant, those children being the second defendant, Dominic Joseph Alecci, and Giovanna Marie Alecci, Linda Francesca Alecci, Eileen Agata Alecci and the plaintiff, Angela Therese Alecci. 5 As the statement of claim discloses, the allegations made by the plaintiff concern centrally dealings in relation to the estate of the deceased over an extended period of time, and the claims made include claims that the first defendant has not provided an account of her dealings with the assets and liabilities, and income and expenses of the estate of the deceased either at any time or, alternatively, from 1 June 1966 accounts having been filed. 6 The statement of claim further contains a number of allegations of wrongdoing by both defendants. I do not intend to repeat the matters to be found in the statement of claim save to set out paragraph 22: "The first defendant is liable, pursuant to the breaches described in 17: