SUSAN’S husband passed-away many years ago.

She has three children and six grandchildren.

When Susan passes-away at the age of 85, her will leaves the whole of her estate to her three children equally.

All three children are appointed as executors and obtain a grant of probate. Susan’s estate is valued at $1.5 million.

Gary, one of the grandchildren, makes a “family provision” claim against the estate.

Gary claims that he is eligible to make a claim because he could establish that he was a grandchild who was partly dependent upon Susan and further, in the circumstances of their relationship, he was a “natural object of recognition”.

Gary asks the Court to award him $250,000 on the basis that at the age of 45, he had accumulated no substantial assets.

Gary says that he has immediate needs, that he requires a fund to pay for his accommodation and medical costs together with a general contingency fund to meet his unforeseen future expenses.

In assessing the evidence adduced during the course of a two-day hearing, the Court finds that Gary was partly dependent upon Susan because he lived with her rent-free, including the five years before Susan’s death.

The Court accepts that Susan did the cooking and attended to the domestic chores during these times.

However, the Court found that Gary’s assistance to his grandmother was “fairly minimal” and that in an exercise of the Court’s discretion, in light of community expectations, found that Susan’s obligations to Gary did not extend beyond providing him with the total sum of $70,000.

Finally, the Court noted that during the course of the hearing, Gary admitted to suffering from an “addiction to gambling” and on that basis, ordered that Gary’s award is to be held on protective trust whereby Gary can only access income and capital of the fund by making “reasonable” requests to the trustee.

Email Manny Wood, Principal Solicitor and Accredited Specialist in Wills and Estates at TB Law at manny@tblaw.net.au or call him on (02) 66 487 487.

This column is only accurate at today’s date and is not legal advice.

By Manny WOOD, Solicitor