Just in Case Law

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...

CASE: KNQ [2019] NSWCATGD 19 Despite the almost comical feel of the term “granny napping”, it is a serious problem that involves taking control over an older person’s life, isolating them from family and support networks, in order to get a financial advantage or other personal reasons. It is generally a traumatic experience for everyone involved. In this case, everyone agreed that the older person...

CASE: NSW Trustee & Guardian v McGrath [2013] NSWSC 1894 Ethel Clarke was estranged from her family. Her closest relatives where six grandchildren who she rarely saw and who appeared to want nothing to do with her. When Ethel died in October 2009 without a Will, the NSW Trustee & Guardian were appointed as the administrators of her estate. Maurice McGrath claimed that he had been Ethel&#39...

CASE: The Council of the NSW Bar Association v Rollinson [2021] NSWSC 1319; The Council of the NSW Bar Association v Rollinson [2021] NSWSC 1090; The Council of the NSW Bar Association v Rollinson [2022] NSWSC 407; The Council of the NSW Bar Association v Rollinson (costs) [2021] NSWSC 1091 Michael Rollinson was a barrister and in 2021 there was a delay in receiving his certificate to practice law...

CASE: Katsis v R [2018] NSWCCA 9 WARNING: This case involves disturbing details of acriminal assault and rape. In 1988, Doris Fenbow was 66 years old and living in a housing commission unit in Little Bay. She kept to herself and didn't associate with her neighbours. In September, smoke was seen coming from Doris's unit. Two neighbours forced their way in and made a horrific discovery. They...

CASE: R v Bredal [2024] NSWCCA 75 WARNING: Disturbing content of child sex offences Daniel Christian Bredal (45 years old) was charged with a child sex offence, that offence being using a carriage service to groom a person under 16 years. There was no 16-year-old child on the other end of the communications. It was in fact a fictious assumed online identify operated by the police. Bredal was sente...

CASE: In the Estate of Edward Steven Middleton [2019] QSC 128 If you tear up your Will, does it cancel the Will or does it only cause a whole lotta headache for the administrator of your estate? In this case, both. There is a presumption that where the Will was last in the possession of the testator, and it cannot be located after their death, that the testator intentionally destroyed their Will i...

CASE: Sadiq v NSW Trustee and Guardian [2015] NSWSC 716 When Christina Coombes died in June 2013, she left behind a decrepit home in Paddington, Sydney, and no Will. After her death, Waleed Sadiq, a man 18 years her junior, claimed to have been in a romantic relationship with Christina for the past 17 years. However, there was no record of Christina ever having a parter and her neighbours said tha...

CASE: Priestley v Priestley [2017] NSWCA 155 In 2002, there was a rupture in the Priestley family that resulted in the father Gordon and his son on one side, facing off against the mother Beverley and two other children Christopher and Claire. It resulted in not only the breakdown of Gordon's marriage, but also the family farming operation. When the matter was settled, after 2 years of litigat...

CASE: Re Legal Practitioners Admissions Board and Sousa [2025] QSC 56 In 2023 Chanel Sousa had completed her law degree and was ready to become a lawyer. She applied to the Legal Practitioners Admissions Board to be admitted to the Roll of Legal Practitioners, to be able to practice law in Queensland. Her application immediately hit a wall - Benjamin Millmann submitted an objection to Chanel’s adm...

CASE: Rada v Smith [2024] NSWSC 273 “In the legal folklore which surrounded will making in Victorian England, the archetype of the spiteful father was one who disinherited his only child and left everything to the Battersea Dogs Home. That, almost literally, is what the plaintiff says her late father has done to her, albeit in Australia.” (Justice Kunc) In this case the estranged daughter Rebecca...

CASE: Jamil v Medical Board of Australia [2024] SASC 90; Medical Board of Australia v Jamil [2023] SACAT 45. In 2020 Dr Shamyal Hamoon Jamil was working as a registered medical intern at an Adelaide Hospital. At the same hospital, university medical students would under work placements. Jamil was charged with inappropriate sexual conduct in relation to two of the medical students, referred to in t...

CASE: Milewski v Holben [2014] NSWSC 388 Colin Robert Holben died when he was 50 years old. His last Will created an overly complex structure of testamentary trusts to hold his $11 million estate for his family. His family consisted of his wife Lisa and their two teenage sons. But Colin had been married before, to Adele Judith Milewski. They had divorced 16 years before Colin's death. And Coli...

CASE: Vosnakis v Arfaras [2015] NSWSC 625 Helen Vosnakis was buried in Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park – formerly known as Botany Cemetery - on 25 July 2012. She left behind her husband, Joseph Vosnakis, and her mother, Aristea Arfaras. Not long after Helen’s burial, Joseph and Aristea would be entrenched in a sad legal dispute. There was a burial licence for Helen’s grave that permitted two people...

CASE: Galic v Engelina Maria Sellin as executrix of the estate of Milan Glavota [2025] WASCA1 Wills are important documents to be taken seriously, both in the drafting and the signing. They distribute the deceased person’s wealth and possessions. You definitely don't want there to be any uncertainty as to what a clause in the Will means. In this case, a difference in interpretation was worth m...

CASE: R v Struhs & Ors [2025] QSC 10 WARNING: disturbing content. 8-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs died on 7 Jan 2022 and her death was entirely preventable. Elizabeth was a diabetic and for two years, her condition had been managed and treated with insulin. That all ended on 3 January 2022 when the decision was made to not give Elizabeth insulin ever again. That decision was made by her paren...

CASE: R v Struhs & Ors [2025] QSC 10 WARNING: disturbing content. 8-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs died on 7 Jan 2022 and her death was entirely preventable. Elizabeth was a diabetic and for two years, her condition had been managed and treated with insulin. That all ended on 3 January 2022 when the decision was made to not give Elizabeth insulin ever again. That decision was made by her paren...

CASE: R v Struhs & Ors [2025] QSC 10 WARNING: disturbing content. 8-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs died on 7 Jan 2022 and her death was entirely preventable. Elizabeth was a diabetic and for two years, her condition had been managed and treated with insulin. That all ended on 3 January 2022 when the decision was made to not give Elizabeth insulin ever again. That decision was made by her paren...

CASE: R v Struhs & Ors [2025] QSC 10 WARNING: disturbing content. 8-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs died on 7 Jan 2022 and her death was entirely preventable. Elizabeth was a diabetic and for two years, her condition had been managed and treated with insulin. That all ended on 3 January 2022 when the decision was made to not give Elizabeth insulin ever again. That decision was made by her paren...

CASE: R v Struhs & Ors [2025] QSC 10 WARNING: disturbing content. 8-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs died on 7 Jan 2022 and her death was entirely preventable. Elizabeth was a diabetic and for two years, her condition had been managed and treated with insulin. That all ended on 3 January 2022 when the decision was made to not give Elizabeth insulin ever again. That decision was made by her paren...

CASE: R v Struhs & Ors [2025] QSC 10 WARNING: disturbing content. 8-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs died on 7 Jan 2022 and her death was entirely preventable. Elizabeth was a diabetic and for two years, her condition had been managed and treated with insulin. That all ended on 3 January 2022 when the decision was made to not give Elizabeth insulin ever again. That decision was made by her paren...

CASE: R v Toby McVoy [2024] NSWDC 534 WARNING: Disturbing content Toby McVoy was sentenced to 3 years and 2 months imprisonment for domestic violence offences against his former partner, referred to only as "XP". McVoy appealed against his sentence, arguing that it was too severe. His new partner "M" gave evidence on his behalf, seeking to have McVoy released earlier; she was p...

CASE: Simpson v Hodges [2007] NSWSC 1230 Pamela Amy Simpson died on 14 July 2004. She was survived by her two children: a son named Howard Collins Newby Simpson, and a daughter named Shelley Emma Elizabeth Hodges. Unfortunately, Pamela’s death kicked-off many used of litigation between her two children. Eight months before Pamela's death, $200,000 was transferred from her bank account to her d...

CASE: Seymour v Seymour [2024] NSWSC 699 WARNING: disturbing content; DV. In 1971, Terence Seymour became the father to a little boy named Mark Seymour. 3 years later, Terence left his family and had little contact with his son after that. Fast forward to 1991 and Terence married Helen Mary Seymour. He was still married to Helen at the date of his death 31 years later in July 2022. 3 weeks before...

CASE: QZH [2023] NSWCATGD 21 The pseudonyms: QZH (the person of interest): "Q" or "the father" UBH (spouse): "U-B" or "the mother" KAH (son, applicant): "KAH" or "the good son" OYH (son, attorney/guardian): "OYAH" or "the other son" In this case, we have an adult son (referred to as OYH) who has moved back in with his...