Just in Case Law

George Sclavos was a well-known member of his community in Leppington where her owned a pharmacy. George never married, never had children, and was 65 years old when he died suddenly of a heart attack in August 2013. Okan Yesilhat was 30 years younger than George. It therefore garnered more than a little attention and surprise when, after George’s death, Okan claimed that for 14 years they had bee...

George Sclavos was a well-known member of his community in Leppington where her owned a pharmacy. George never married, never had children, and was 65 years old when he died suddenly of a heart attack in August 2013. Okan Yesilhat was 30 years younger than George. It therefore garnered more than a little attention and surprise when, after George’s death, Okan claimed that for 14 years they had bee...

George Sclavos was a well-known member of his community in Leppington where her owned a pharmacy. George never married, never had children, and was 65 years old when he died suddenly of a heart attack in August 2013. Okan Yesilhat was 30 years younger than George. It therefore garnered more than a little attention and surprise when, after George’s death, Okan claimed that for 14 years they had bee...

CASE: Re the will of William Ian Southey [2025] VSC 801 Two months before his death, William Ian Southey made a Will leaving most of his $2.5 million estate to his partner Kyle Stuart Jackson. The only problem was that William had never met Kyle in person. And after William's death, Kyle could not be found.

CASE: Anastasia Pates v Diane Craig and The Public Trustee Estate of the Late Joyce Jean Cole [1995] NSWSC 87 This case involves a dispute over the last will of the late Joyce Jean Cole and the accusations that Joyce did not have the capacity to make her 1993 will, that she didn’t know or approve of the contents of the will, and that it was executed under undue influence and fraud. Joyce met Regin...

CASE: In the estate of Giuseppe Pellegrino (deceased) [2025] ACTSC 421 So many questions in this case. Can you disclaim an inheritance left to you in a Will? Yes. Does the disclaimer have to be in writing? No. If you refuse to respond to letters and email, and send back the inheritance cheque, does that constitute disclaiming your inheritance? In this case, yes. If a person disclaims their inherit...

CASE: Radecki & Fairbairn [2020] FamCAFC 307; Fairbairn & Radecki [2020] FCCA 1556 Fairbairn and Radecki started a relationship when both were in their 50s, had already acquired their own assets, and had their own children. A core element of their relationship was their agreement to always keep their finances separate. However, when Fairbairn lost capacity and moved into a nursing home, Ra...

CASE: Wertheim v Perpetual Trustee Company Limited [2021] NSWSC 1229Relationship come in all forms. The nuclear family dynamic is declining in prevalence. One form that is becoming increasingly common is the blended family, where you have spouses who have no children together, but have children from a previous relationship. Later-life de facto relationships come with different concerns. For exampl...

CASE: Rex Phillip Tory v Sarjit Kaur Tory [2007] NSWSC 1078 In 1986, Sarjit Tory owned real estate with her former brother-in-law Rex Tory. The land had great potential for rezoning and development. Sarjit and Rex agreed that Rex would make the arrangements and applications for rezoning and they would share the costs equally between themselves. However, twenty years later and the property had stil...

CASE: Kids' Kinder Childcare Pty Limited v The Department of Education [2024] NSWDC 345 WARNING: Disturbing content; child abuse Parents are entitled to expect that when they leave their children at a childcare centre, their children will be properly cared for. That did not occur at Jumpstart Childcare in Menai. Kids' Kinder Childcare Pty Limited, operating as Jumpstart Childcare, pleaded...

CASE: Estate MPS, deceased [2017] NSWSC 482; Smoje vForrester [2017] NSWCA 308 Miryana Smoje spent the last two years of her life dying slowly and in constant pain, from breast cancer and inadequate medical care, in a small hotel room in Frenchs Forest. She died without a will and her closest relatives was her brother Neven. But before her estate worth about $2.25m could pass to Neven, there was a...

CASE: Flourentzou v Spink [2019] NSWCA 315 In 2012, Dianne and Mario Flourentzou purchased a property in Casula to live in with their three children. Dianne's mother, Ricky Spink, contributed $165,000 towards the purchase and renovation of the Casula property on the understanding that she could live with them at the property for the rest of her life. Within 3 years, relationships had soured an...

CASE: Croft v Sanders [2019] NSWCA 303 When Warwick Croft made his last Will in 2013, he was 82 years old and suffering from delusions. He believed that four of his daughters were scheming against him, that they worked in a brothel and were sending prostitutes to knock on his door late at night. He talking about seeing things in his backyard - a black panther, huge owls, and one of his daughters r...

CASE: Council of the Law Society of NSW v Zhukovska [2019] NSWCATOD 66 Recommended by Leah Murphy (formerly Leah Johnson) Myroslava Zhukovska was the solicitor for Dulcie Barbara Heane who was elderly and living in aged care. Within a short period of time, Zhukovska got financial control of Dulcie's money, sold Dulcie's home, made unsecured loans from Dulcie's money to her clients and...

CASE: DPP v Gargasoulas [2019] VSC 87 WARNING: Disturbing content of murder, violence and drug use. On the 20 January 2017, around 1.30pm James Gargasoulas drove a Holden Commodore into the pedestrian only Bourke Street in the Melbourne Central business district. He deliberately mowing down pedestrians who were walking through the mall. 27 people were struck and suffered physical and psychological...

CASE: In the Estate of McFadyen [2015] ACTSC 2019 In 2014, 64-year-old Shenee McFadyen was visited by an old work colleague, AB. Within the short two-week visit, AB took Shenee to a solicitor to do a new Will, leaving her whole estate to AB. Shortly after, Shenee was hospitalised with cerebellar haemorrhage. AB did not come to see her. Shenee died four months after having signed the Will. AB did n...

CASE: Straede v Eastwood [2003] NSWSC 280 In August 2000, John Straede was driving his wife Cheryl to work. He overtook the car in front of him on a hill and collided with an oncoming vehicle. Cheryl was killed in the accident. John pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death. The question in this case was not whether John was guilty of causing Cheryl's death, it was whether he was still...

CASES: GYM [2017] WASAT 136 & KRM [2017] WASAT 135 By 2016, GYM and KRM has been married for over 60 years, had three adult sons and several grandchildren. They also owned a farm worth over $1.6 million, expensive farming equipment and tools, and a residential house in Mullaloo, WA. By the end of 2017, they would have about $40,000 in the bank account and nothing else. Where had all their prop...

Let's celebrate the best holiday of the year with some funny Halloween legal cases! Thanks to Matt, my co-host for this episode <3

CASE: R v Sweet [2021] QDC 216 Kym Anthony Sweet was charged with committing two criminal drug offences. He argued that he couldn't be charged because he consists of two separate entities: There was the real-life flesh and blood man that goes by the name Kym-Anthony and then there is a straw man or dummy corporation which goes by KYM ANTHONY SWEET. And the real person, Kym-Anthony, was not sub...

CASE: Suzanne Dale Smith by her next friend the Public Trustee -v- Marion Kathryn Partridge as executor of the Estate of Thomas Smith [2018] WASC 128 Marion was the executor of her late father Thomas Smith's estate. In her capacity as executor, she transferred Thomas's house into her name, and held all of the funds in his estate. The Court Ordered that Thomas's other daughter, Suzanne,...

CASE: Napier Keen Pty Ltd v Smith [2023] NSWSC 1134 Beverley was a bookkeeper for the law firm Keen Lawyers for 16 years. After Beverley resigned, her boss Mr Keen discovered that Beverley had been taking money from the business. Over a period of 7 years, she siphoned over $1 million from the firm. Unfortunately, by the time the theft was discovered, Beverley had lost most of the funds in pokie ma...

CASE: Ashton v Pratt (No 2) [2012] NSWSC 3 Madison Ashton provided escort services to the late Richard Pratt, a married man of exceptional wealth. She would provide such services from time to time and for reward. When Pratt ended the relationship in 2004, Ashton sued him to enforce their contract. According to Ashton, if she left the escort business and became Pratt's mistress, Pratt agreed to...

CASE: Hughes v Sangster [2019] ACTSC 178 Christine Hughes and her daughter Martell Sangster decided to combine their finances and buy a house together. Christine contributed 100% of the purchase price, but was only registered on title as owning 50%. Martell had promised that she would pay her mother 50% of the purchase price as soon as she sold her existing house. They all moved into the new home...

CASE: Re Estate Condon; Battenberg v Phillips [2017] NSWSC 1813 Blanche Minnie Condon died in 2016 leaving behind an estate worth about $7m. She had made her last Will only a few weeks before her death. Her Will made no provision for her nephew Andrew Battenberg, who was living in Scotland. Andrew challenged the validity of the last Will. He much preferred Blanche’s earlier Wills in which he got a...