Shorey v Hansford [2003] NSWSC 889

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Shorey v Hansford [2003] NSWSC 889 HEARING DATE(S) : 10, 11 September 2003 JUDGMENT DATE : 1 October 2003 JURISDICTION: Equity Division JUDGMENT OF : Windeyer J at 1 DECISION : Order that provision be made.

CATCHWORDS : FAMILY PROVISION AND MAINTENANCE - no provision made by will of mother for adult daughter - no competing claim of sole beneficiary - statement in will as to reason for omission - provision made by father for daughter - whether provision ought to be made - factors taken into account LEGISLATION CITED : Family Provision Act 1982, s7, s9(2) PARTIES : Annette Leonie Shorey (Plaintiff) Richard Clive Hansford and Ian Stuart Goddard (Defendants) FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 5850/01 COUNSEL : L Ellison (Plaintiff) A M Colefax (Defendants) SOLICITORS : E H Tebbutt & Sons (Plaintiff) McCoy, Grove & Atkinson (Defendants)

- 13 - IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES EQUITY DIVISION

WINDEYER J

WEDNESDAY 1 OCTOBER 2003.

5850/01 ANNETTE LEONIE SHOREY V RICHARD CLIVE HANSFORD AND ANOR RE THE ESTATE OF THE LATE EILEEN VIOLET HURDIS JUDGMENT 1 The plaintiff seeks an order under s7 of the Family Provision Act 1982 for provision out of the estate of her mother, Eileen Violet Hurdis. 2 Mrs Hurdis died on 11 September 2000. She left a will dated 27 October 1995 probate of which was granted to the defendants on 7 December 2000. Under that will the deceased left her whole estate to her son, John Philip Hurdis. If he had not survived then there was a gift over to the two sons of the plaintiff. 3 Paragraph 7 of the will of Mrs Hurdis is as follows: 7. I have not made any provision directly in favour of my daughter ANNETTE LEONIE SHOREY because of the attitude adopted to me by her since my husband's death and also because of the provision which has been made for her under my husband's will and through the family company and Trust. 4 Mrs Hurdis was a widow. Her husband, William Hurdis, died in 1990. There were children of the marriage, namely the plaintiff and John Hurdis. Mr John Hurdis has never married. He always lived in his parents' home in Highlands Avenue, Gordon. He was born in 1943 and the plaintiff in 1944. Their father carried on for most of his working life a successful timber business. 5 The deceased's estate consisted of a home unit Epping, money on deposit and shareholdings in listed and unlisted companies. It is not necessary to consider this in detail as attention should be directed to the assets and their value at the present time, there having been no distribution. Those assets, together with their estimated values are as follows: