Australia, June 30 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on May 30:

1. These proceedings relate to the estate of the late John Henry Cree who died on 4 March 2023 at the age of 81. The plaintiff is Scott McLean, who is the son of the deceased's former de facto partner. He seeks an order for further provision pursuant to s 59 of the Succession Act 2006 (NSW). The defendant is the deceased's daughter, Jodie Cree, who is the executor of the deceased's estate and is the sole beneficiary under his will. I will adopt the same naming convention used by the parties and their representatives in these proceedings and, without intending any disrespect, I will refer to the parties and members of their families by their first names.

2. The background to the proceedings is as follows: Scott was born in 1973. He is the son of Maureen McLean. Scott's father died shortly before Scott's eighth birthday. When he was nine years old, his mother, Maureen, started a relationship with the deceased, who already had children from a previous marriage to Denise. One of those children was Jodie. John moved in to live with Maureen quite soon after their relationship began. Maureen owned a house on Mears Avenue in Randwick. John and Maureen remained living together as a couple for the rest of Maureen's life.

3. At the time he moved in with Maureen, John and Denise owned a property on Bilga Crescent in Malabar. Although the history to the title of that property is a little unclear to me, it seems that at least by the mid-1970s, it was a Crown lease and that John and Denise held it as tenants in common and equal shares.

4. In 1997, Maureen and John decided to retire to the coast. Maureen sold the Mears Avenue property and purchased a house in Lake Cathie, where she and John lived. That house was in Maureen's name.

5. Maureen died in 2004. She left a will naming Scott's wife, Renee, as executor. So far as the Lake Cathie property was concerned, the will provided that the property was to be held by Renee on the terms of the following trust:

"(A) Subject to the succeeding provisions of this schedule, my Executor must allow my partner JOHN HENRY CREE to live in my principal residence at my death ('the residence') during his lifetime or until such time as he ceases to reside permanently in the residence or until he requires or in the opinion of my Executor enters into a bona fide domestic relationship, if he:-

i. pays the rates, taxes and other outgoings in respect of the residence,

ii. pays the premiums on any insurance policies taken out by my executor on the residence, and

iii. keeps it in repair to the reasonable satisfaction of my executor."

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/19739bacb48d3c3fa67b0a5f)

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.