Rennes & Anor v Death & Ors [2003] NSWSC 708

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Rennes & Anor v Death & Ors [2003] NSWSC 708 revised - 12/08/2003 HEARING DATE(S) : 28/07/03 JUDGMENT DATE : 4 August 2003

JUDGMENT OF : Gzell J DECISION : Gifts of paddocks valid. Order for excision of proviso. Costs to be borne by devisees.

CATCHWORDS : SUCCESSION - Wills, Probate and Administration - Construction and effect of testamentary dispositions - Devises of paddocks within a lot in a deposited plan - Whether void for uncertainty - Proviso that devisee remain the registered proprietor of other land - Gift of that land to the testatrix who gifted it back by her will - Whether proviso should be excised - Whether rectification available at common law or limited to the Wills, Probate and Administration Act 1898, s 29A(1) - Whether the costs of subdivision and transfer of the paddocks should be borne by the devisees LEGISLATION CITED : Wills, Probate and Administration Act 1898 Family Provision Act 1982 Mason v Robinson (1825) 2 Sim & St 295 (57 ER 359) Adams v Jones (1852) 9 Hare 485 (68 ER 602) Re Roberts; Repington v Roberts-Gawen (1881) 19 Ch D 520 Smidmore v Smidmore (1905) 3 CLR 344 CASES CITED : Re Doland's Will Trusts [1970] 1 Ch 267 Rhodes v Rhodes (1882) 7 App Cas 192 Osborne v Smith (1960) 105 CLR 153 Lloyd v Frape (1922) 23 SR(NSW) 11 Re Grosvenor [1916] 2 Ch 375 Re Hewett [1920] 90 LJ Ch 126 Sharon Carol Rennes and Nikki Elizabeth Smith - Plaintiffs PARTIES : Thomas James Death - 1st Defendant Russell William Death - 2nd Defendant FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 3776/02 COUNSEL : B K Ralston - Plaintiffs C M Simpson - 1st Defendant SOLICITORS : Garvins Solicitors Golsby Whiteley Solicitors