Coss v Norman

Judgment - EX TEMPORE Revised from transcript and annotated; issued 15 November 2021

1. This is an application for a family provision order under s 59 of the Succession Act 2006 ("the Act"). The plaintiff seeks additional provision out of the deceased's estate. For convenience, and without disrespect, I will refer to the parties and the witnesses by their given names.
2. The application concerns the estate of the late David Henry Norman, who died in September 2019 at the age of 55. The deceased never married and had no children. He was survived by his three siblings: Fiona Norman ("Fiona"), who was born in November 1959; and Steven Joseph Norman ("Steven") and Joanne Mankovina ("Joanne"), whose dates of birth are not recorded in the evidence.
3. The application is made by Rodney James Coss, who is known as "James". [1] He and the deceased lived together in a domestic relationship from 2012 onwards at a home unit property owned by the deceased in Forsyth Street, Kingsford, in Sydney's eastern suburbs. This continued until early to mid-May 2019, when James moved out. There is a dispute about whether the relationship ended permanently when James moved out or it was merely a hiatus.
4. The deceased died tragically by suicide. In the four months before his death, he made no less than four wills. By the last will, made nine days before his death, he appointed Fiona as his executor. Under the will, he left an investment property which he owned in Tramway Street, Rosebery, to James. The rest of his estate, (excluding chattels belonging to James, which had been left behind when James moved out of the Kingsford property) he left to his siblings.
5. Fiona obtained probate of the will in March last year. She is the defendant in the proceedings. The proceedings were begun in August last year, which was within the time permitted by the Act.
6. The Rosebery property was mortgaged to a financier. Its net value is about $230,000, subject to a tax question to which I will refer in more detail below. The rest of the estate (after deduction of testamentary and administration expenses, but before the deduction of costs for these proceedings) is worth $740,000.