O’Brien v Luscombe [2015] NSWSC 1404

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: O'Brien v Luscombe [2015] NSWSC 1404 Hearing dates: 23 September 2015 Date of orders: 14 October 2015 Decision date: 14 October 2015 Jurisdiction: Equity Before: Slattery J Decision: Time not extended. Claim dismissed. Catchwords: SUCCESSION – family provision - Family Provision Act 1982 - application for an order for provision made eight years out of time - estate distributed - application for extension of time - whether plaintiff entitled to an order for provision but for the delay in bringing the application - whether time should be extended - whether an order should be made designating any property as notional estate. Cases Cited: Butler v Morris [2012] NSWSC 748 Drury v Smith [2012] NSWSC 1067 Evans v Levy [2011] NSWCA 125 Lewis v Lewis [2001] NSWSC 321 Hogan v Hogan [2013] NSWSC 1405 Singer v Berghouse (No. 2) (1994) 181 CLR 201 Verzar v Verzar [2014] NSWCA 45 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Plaintiff: Lynette Betty O'Brien Defendant: Belinda Gai Luscombe Representation: Counsel: Plaintiff: J.P. Redmond Defendant: R.N. O'Neill

Solicitors: Plaintiff: P.T. Gleeson, Gleeson and Co trading as Moama Law Defendant: Caroline Hutchinson, Coleman Greig Lawyers File Number(s): 2015/39615 Publication restriction: No

Judgment 1. The plaintiff, Lynette Betty O'Brien seeks an order that provision be made for her out of the estate of the late Stanley Harold Norton pursuant to s 7 of the Family Provision Act 1982 (NSW) ("the Act"). The deceased was born on 26 April 1922 and died on 21 October 2005. Because the deceased died prior to 2009 the applicable statutory provisions of the Act predate the current legislation for family provision orders. 2. For convenience and without intending disrespect to any person, these reasons used the first names of the parties and other family members.