Three recent decisions of the NSW Court of Appeal have overturned the trial judge’s rather generous awards to an ex-wife of the deceased, a person in a short term relationship and a child who had already received a property from her mother during her life but had squandered it.
The case shows that all the relevant circumstances must be taken into account such as prior generosity as well as financial need at the time of the trial.
In Lodin v Lodin, a generous award of $750,00 to the ex-wife of the deceased was overturned. The claimant had divorced the deceased 25 years ago and had received a substantial family law settlement.
In Sgro v Sgro, the Court of Appeal held that the adequacy of a provision in a will is not to be determined solely by reference to the a claimant’s poor financial circumstances.
In Smojie v Forrester, “living together” for the purpose of assessing eligibility based on a ” close personal relationship” required more than repeat visits for a single purpose.