Re Estate of Ian McDermott; Application of Aiveh Ahmad [2015] NSWSC 595

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Re Estate of Ian McDermott; Application of Aiveh Ahmad [2015] NSWSC 595 Hearing dates: 18 May 2015 Date of orders: 18 May 2015 Decision date: 18 May 2015 Jurisdiction: Equity Division Before: Lindsay J Decision: Family Provision Relief granted, on case proved and in absence of contradictor Catchwords: SUCCESSION – family provision and maintenance - Summons named no defendant– Notice of the proceedings given to likely contradictors – No appearance in opposition to claim – Proceedings properly constituted for hearing on merits – Relief granted Legislation Cited: Succession Act 2006 NSW Cases Cited: Osborne v Smith (1960) 105 CLR 153 at 158-159 Texts Cited: - Category: Principal judgment Parties: Plaintiff: Aiveh Ahmad Representation: Counsel: Plaintiff: W Washington

Solicitors: Plaintiff: Hall Partners File Number(s): 2014/00360705 Publication restriction: -

Judgment – EX TEMPORE 1. The late Ian McDermott (also known as Ian Thompson) died at home, in Campsie, between 3 December 2013 and 18 January 2014 (aged about seventy-eight years), leaving an intestate estate, presently valued at about $166,000. 2. The deceased was unmarried at the time of his death. He had been married to Ms Lourdes Liu, but that marriage ended in divorce. His former wife has been given notice of the current proceedings. She makes no claim against his estate. 3. The deceased had no children of his own. His parents predeceased him. He died without siblings. A brother predeceased him. 4. Under New South Wales intestacy laws (chapter 4 of the Succession Act 2006 NSW) the deceased's estate passes to the State, subject to any orders that might be made by the Court in these proceedings: Succession Act, s 136. 5. The Crown has been given notice of the proceedings, but has chosen not to appear. 6. The plaintiff is the daughter of the deceased's former wife. She is his stepdaughter. 7. She was born in 1979 and is presently aged thirty five years. During her infancy she lived with the deceased and her mother and, for some years, she believed that the deceased was her natural father. 8. Records relating to the deceased obtained from Canterbury Hospital record that, in the hospital's records, the plaintiff was listed as the deceased's "next of kin". 9. By a summons filed on 8 December 2014 the plaintiff seeks orders under chapter 3 of the Succession Act by way of a grant of "family provision relief". 10. The summons names no defendant. However, notice of the proceedings has been served on the two most likely contradictors to her claim (namely, her mother and the State of New South Wales) and they have elected not to appear in opposition to her claim. 11. By analogy with probate proceedings, the court can proceed on the basis that, having been given due notice of the proceedings, and having elected not to participate in them, they are bound by orders made disposing of the proceedings: Osborne v Smith (1960) 105 CLR 153 at 158-159. 12. Section 61 of the Succession Act tends in the same direction insofar as it provides that, in determining an application for a family provision order, the court may disregard the interests of any other person by or in respect of whom an application for a family provision order may be made but who has not made an application. The potential interest of the plaintiff's mother in the deceased's estate can, by reference to that section, be disregarded. 13. On 18 November 2014, in separate proceedings commenced by a summons filed on 14 November 2014, the plaintiff was granted letters of administration under s 91 of the Succession Act to facilitate her claim for family provision relief. 14. The plaintiff's summons for family provision relief is supported by written submissions dated 15 May 2015 prepared by counsel appearing on her behalf. Those submissions have been marked as "Exhibit P2" in the proceedings. They will remain with the court file. 15. I am satisfied that the submissions accurately address each of the issues that need to be addressed before the court can make an order for family provision relief in favour of the plaintiff. I adopt them for the purposes of this judgment. 16. The plaintiff is a person in favour of whom a grant of relief should be made by reference, inter alia, to ss 57(1)(e), 59 and 60 of the Succession Act. 17. The evidence adduced by the plaintiff in support of her summons for the family provision relief establishes, to use a colloquial expression, that she not only has a familial claim on the estate of the deceased, but she has been left with a substantial need for assistance. That need is of an order that totally subsumes the available estate. 18. The plaintiff lives in a Department of Housing home at Claymore. She is a single mother with three children, dependent upon Centrelink payments for her income. 19. In all the circumstances, summarised in counsel's submissions and supported by the evidence adduced by the plaintiff, the appropriate orders are: 1. ORDER that provision be made for the plaintiff's maintenance, education and advancement in life out of the estate of the late Ian James McDermott (aka Ian Thompson) by vesting in her the whole of the estate. 2. ORDER that the plaintiff's costs of these proceedings be paid out of the estate of the deceased on the indemnity basis.