Case studies often assist is providing actual information about some of the matter we have assisted clients with in the past.
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De facto wife and secret lover obtains order for provision
The deceased was separated from his wife and children. Since he was a teenager he had conducted an affair with the plaintiff, before throughout and from the end of his marriage to his wife. The deceased and his de facto never lived continuously together. The deceased was a truck driver and after his separation from his wife he continued that occupation but whenever he was back from truck driving jobs he lived with or stayed... -
17 year old girl left out of Estate
A 17 year old girl’s parents separated when she was less than a year old. She lived interstate with her mother. Her father moved to the North Coast of New South Wales. From a very young age she maintained regular contact with her father and visited him regularly, and after she went to school, spent a significant part of every school holidays with him. About 15 years after the separation her father remarried. Shortly after... -
An adult, middle aged daughter of her father’s first marriage
Her father re-married. Her father had a property settlement with his first wife who brought up and maintained custody of their two daughters until they left home. The father re-married and twenty five years later, he died suddenly. He left a Will leaving everything to his second wife and if she died before him, then to his daughters, but the entirety of his assets were jointly owned with his second wife as joint tenants, and... -
A man died leaving his adult son out of his will entirely
The man had never married his son’s mother and had never lived with his son. He had left his whole estate to a friend and her children. The administrator of the estate argued that the son was not entitled to anything because he had little or no contact with his father. Turner Freeman took the son’s claim to court. We argued that the amount of contact with the father should not be held against the... -
A man who died in an air crash was survived by his wife, from whom he was separated but not divorced, and by a partner in a recent de-facto relationship
The man had made his Will several years before his death, and his separated wife was still the executor. His will left his whole estate to her, on a verbal agreement that she would hold it on trust for their teenage son. Shortly after making his Will, the man began the de-facto relationship. The bulk of his estate was a half interest in his home, which he owned jointly with his de-facto partner. This partner...