Doris Irene Taylor v Marian Streicher & Anor [2007] NSWSC 1006

Reported Decision : 64 ACSR 300

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Doris Irene Taylor v Marian Streicher & Anor [2007] NSWSC 1006

HEARING DATE(S) : 29, 30 and 31 August 2007

JUDGMENT DATE : 31 August 2007

JURISDICTION : Equity Division

JUDGMENT OF : McDougall J at 1

DECISION : See paragraphs [65] - [69] of the judgment

CATCHWORDS : EQUITY – Equitable charges – "Windfall equity" – Money expended on real property of another – Breakdown in relations – Whether breakdown occurred "without attributable blame" – Whether unconscionable for defendants to hold property free of charge – Whether plaintiff entitled to equitable charge – amount which charge should secure.

Baumgartner v Baumgartner (1987) 164 CLR 137 LEGISLATION CITED : Henderson v Miles (No. 2) [2005] NSWSC 867 Morris v Morris [1982] 1 NSWLR 61 Muschinski v Dodds (1985) 160 CLR 583

CASES CITED : Uniform Civil Procedure Rules

Doris Irene Taylor (Plaintiff) PARTIES : Marian Streicher (First Defendant) Hermann Streicher (Second Defendant)

FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 2573/06

COUNSEL : E A White (Plaintiff) M K Rollinson (First and Second Defendant)

SOLICITORS : Clark Rideaux Solicitors (Plaintiff) Teakle Ormsby George Solicitors (First and Second Defendant)

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES EQUITY DIVISION

McDOUGALL J

31 August 2007 (ex tempore – revised 3 September 2007)

2573/06 DORIS IRENE TAYLOR v MARIAN STREICHER & ANOR JUDGMENT 1 HIS HONOUR: These proceedings concern an arrangement, made with the best of intentions, for an elderly couple to live out their lives with a daughter and her husband. They provide a salutary warning as to the need to think through such arrangements with care, and to document them with precision. Those things were not done in this case. The result is a family divided.