McCooe as Administrator of the Estate of Michael Lawrence Molloy v Pande [2017] NSWSC 219

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: McCooe as Administrator of the Estate of Michael Lawrence Molloy v Pande [2017] NSWSC 219 Hearing dates: 8 February 2017 Decision date: 09 March 2017 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Button J Decision: (1) Summary judgment for the plaintiff against the defendants for possession of the premises at XXX, Chatswood in the State of New South Wales. (2) The plaintiff is granted leave to issue a writ of possession in respect of the premises at XXX, Chatswood in the State of New South Wales, such writ not to issue before Thursday 6 April 2017. (3) Order 1 of the cross-claim of the defendants of 8 February 2017 is struck out. (4) The defendants must pay the costs of the plaintiff of the hearing before me. (5) The remainder of the Proceedings No 2016/214453 (including the orders sought in the statement of claim of the plaintiff of 15 July 2016 and the cross-claim of the defendants of 8 February 2017), not disposed of by my orders 1,2, 3 and 4, are transferred to the Property List in the Equity Division of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. (6) The matter is listed for directions before the Equity Registrar at 9.30AM on 23 March 2017. Catchwords: PROCEDURE – application for summary judgment in part – resistance to claim for possession doomed to failure – transfer of remainder of proceedings to Equity Division

SUCCESSION – wills, probate and administration – appointment of administrator by power of attorney – discussion of role of administrator in those circumstances Legislation Cited: Probate and Administration Act 1898 (NSW), ss 63, 72 Succession Act 2006 (NSW) Cases Cited: Chambers v Bicknell (1843) 2 Hare 536 General Steel Industries Inc v Commissioner for Railways (1964) 112 CLR 125; [1964] HCA 69 Masters v Cameron (1954) 91 CLR 353; [1954] HCA 72 Perpetual Trustee Co Ltd v Satchwell (1939) 39 SR (NSW) 335 Rosemblum v Gridiger (Supreme Court (NSW), Holland J, 24 June 1980, unrep) Wickstead v Browne (1993) 179 CLR 688 Texts Cited: LG Handler and R Neal, Succession Law and Practice New South Wales (LexisNexis Butterworths) RS Geddes, CJ Rowland, and P Studdert, Wills Probate and Administration Law in New South Wales, (1st ed 1996, LBC Information Services) Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: John Bernard McCooe as Administrator of the Estate of Michael Lawrence Molloy, Deceased (Plaintiff) Lakshmi Kant Pande (First Defendant) Ashwani Lata Pande (Second Defendant) Representation: Counsel: B DeBuse (Plaintiff) J Rose (Defendants)