Milewski v Holben
[2014] NSWSC 388
At a glance
Source factsCourt
Supreme Court of NSW
Decision date
2014-03-25
Before
Lindsay J
Source
Original judgment source is linked above.
Judgment (10 paragraphs)
INTRODUCTION 1In proceedings commenced by a summons filed on 19 November 2012 Adele Judith Milewski ("the plaintiff") applies for an order, under Chapter 3 of the Succession Act 2006 NSW, that provision be made for her maintenance, education or advancement in life out of the estate, or notional estate, of the late Colin Robert Holben ("the deceased"). 2The deceased died on 1 June 2011, aged about 50 years, leaving a will dated 16 September 2009, probate of which was granted to Lisa Anne Holben ("the defendant") by this Court on 17 April 2012. 3The plaintiff's summons was filed about five months out of the time (12 months after the death of the deceased) prescribed by s 58(2) of the Succession Act as the time within which an application for a Family Provision order must be made. 4In order to succeed on her application the plaintiff requires a grant of leave pursuant to s 58(2). An order under that provision permitting an application to be made out of time requires her to show "sufficient cause" for such an order to be made. 5The plaintiff's status as a person eligible to apply for a Family Provision order is not in dispute; but her standing as an "eligible person", within the meaning of s 57(1) of the Succession Act, gives rise to a need to consider, under s 59(1)(b) of the Act, whether there are factors which warrant the making of the plaintiff's application. 6The plaintiff has standing to apply for relief because she is a former wife of the deceased: Succession Act ss 57(1)(d) and 59(1)(a). Section 59(1)(b), accordingly, requires that, as a pre-condition to a grant of relief, that the Court be satisfied that "having regard to all the circumstances of the case (whether past or present) there are factors which warrant the making of the [plaintiff's] application". 7This is, perhaps, the principal question on which the outcome of the proceedings turns. 8The parties are agreed that it is to be determined by reference to the approach adopted in Re Fulop, Deceased (1987) 8 NSWLR 679 at 681 D-E (and approved by the Court of Appeal in Churton v Christian (1988) 13 NSWLR 241) in relation to the legislative predecessor of s 59(1)(b) of the Succession Act, s 9(1) of the Family Provision Act 1982 NSW. 9The "factors" to which s 59(1)(b) refers are factors which, when added to facts which render the plaintiff an eligible person, might give her the status of a person who would generally be regarded as a natural object of testamentary recognition by the deceased. 10This approach is consistent with that, more broadly, required of the Court upon a consideration of questions that arise under other provisions (principally, ss 59(1)(c) and 59(2) of the Succession Act. The normative language of the legislation requires that evaluative decision making of the Court be guided, and assisted, by a consideration of perceived prevailing community standards of what is right and appropriate: Andrew v Andrew (2012) 81 NSWLR 656 at 661 [16] and 664 [34]-[36]. 11The plaintiff's application for a Family Provision order focuses attention on her status as a former wife of the deceased and competing entitlements of the deceased's second family. 12The defendant is his widow, and the mother of his two children, boys respectively aged about 11 and 15 years. 13The deceased's estate was not a small one. An indication of this is to be found in the inventory of property attached to the grant of probate. It discloses assets with an estimated value of about $11 million, including the former matrimonial home of the defendant and the deceased (with an estimated value of $3 million) and trust assets representing an interest in the deceased's business, AGS World Transport LP (with an estimated value of $7.525 million). 14The deceased's estate is not small; but, to all intents and purposes, it has been distributed and, accordingly, if a Family Provision order is to be made in favour of the plaintiff (under s 59 of the Succession Act), the Court must be satisfied that an order should be made for the designation of property as notional estate of the deceased: see, generally, ss 78, 79, 82, 83, 87, 88, 89 and 90. 15The Court's burden of being so satisfied is relieved to the extent that the defendant has made a concession that, if the Court were to be satisfied that a Family Provision order ought to be made in favour of the plaintiff, property available for designation as notional estate includes: (a)a term deposit of $1.6 million currently held in the name of the defendant with the Bendigo Bank, representing part of a distribution of $1.7 million made to her from the estate of the deceased; and (b)trust funds, each of $1 million, set aside for the two sons of the deceased. 16The plaintiff expressly disclaims any claim on the boys' trust funds, and on the former matrimonial home of the defendant and the deceased in Clovelly, New South Wales. 17The Clovelly property passes to the defendant, unencumbered, not by a testamentary disposition of the deceased alone, but by a Family Provision order made by the Court on 8 November 2013 (in proceedings numbered 2012/187031) following a process of mediation. Its current market value is estimated at $2.8 million. Title to it is in the process of being transferred, if it has not already been transferred, into the name of the defendant. 18The necessity for the defendant herself to apply for a Family Provision order arose, not from any want of regard by the deceased for her or their sons, but from his adoption of an overly complex structure of testamentary trusts in making provision for his family. 19His will was made in contemplation of his marriage to the defendant, after several years of a domestic partnership between the two of them, and the birth of their sons. 20It is not necessary to dwell further on the precise terms of the will, save to notice that it made no provision for the plaintiff.