Di Mauro v Sciara; Estate of the late Rosario Sciara [2015] NSWSC 1796

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Di Mauro v Sciara; Estate of the late Rosario Sciara [2015] NSWSC 1796 Hearing dates: 23 & 24 November 2015 Decision date: 01 December 2015 Jurisdiction: Equity Before: Stevenson J Decision: Provision of $100,000 to be made for plaintiff from deceased's estate Catchwords: SUCCESSION – family provision – claim by estranged adult daughter – excluded as beneficiary because deceased believed she had not shown him the love, affection and respect to which he believed he was entitled – estrangement over many years – reason for estrangement – whether no provision was adequate – what provision should be made Legislation Cited: Family Provision Act 1982 (NSW) Property (Relationships) Act 1984 (NSW) Succession Act 2006 (NSW) Testator's Family Maintenance and Guardianship of Infants Act 1916 (NSW) Cases Cited: Andrew v Andrew [2012] NSWCA 308 Ciric v Ciric [2015] NSWSC 313 Doshen v Pedisich [2013] NSWSC 1507 Foley v Ellis [2008] NSWCA 288 Ford v Simes [2009] NSWCA 351 Gersbach v Blake [2011] NSWSC 368 Gorton v Parks (1989) 17 NSWLR 1 Hunter v Hunter (1987) 8 NSWLR 573 Keep v Bourke [2012] NSWCA 64 Lajcarova v Todorov [2011] NSWSC 522 Manuel v Lane [2013] NSWCA 61 McKenzie v Topp [2004] VSC 90 Nowak v Beska [2013] NSWSC 166 Palmer v Dolman; Dolman v Palmer [2005] NSWCA 361 Phillips v James [2014] NSWCA 4; 85 NSWLR 619 Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith v Scales [1962] HCA 19; 107 CLR 9 Salmon v Osmond [2015] NSWCA 42 Singer v Berghouse (No 2) [1994] HCA 40; 181 CLR 201 Verzar v Verzar [2014] NSWCA 45 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Josephine Di Mauro (Plaintiff) Carmelo Sciara (First Defendant) Giuseppe Sciara (Second Defendant) Carlo Sciara (Third Defendant) Representation: Counsel: L J Ellison SC with J Brown (Plaintiff) B J Skinner (Defendants)