My stepfather didn’t make adequate provision for me in his will.” Which case won?
A case heard in NSW involved a dispute over whether a man had made adequate provision for his stepdaughter in his will.
The man died in November 2017.
The gross value of his estate at the date of his death was about $205,000.
He and his first wife had two children together, who resided in the United Kingdom.
The man met his second wife in Australia in 1984, and they married in 1986.
They had no children together. However, the man’s second wife had one child, who became his stepdaughter.
The second wife died in 2015, leaving her entire estate to her husband, save for a silver belt which she left to her daughter.
In 2012, the man had made a will in which his stepdaughter was named as a substitute beneficiary in the event of her mother dying before him.
However, in 2016 he made a new will, in which he left nothing to his stepdaughter. Instead he left the whole of his estate to his biological children and grandchildren.
After payment of debts and funeral and testamentary expenses, each of his children was to receive 40 per cent of his estate, his granddaughter ten per cent, and his grandsons who were living at the date of his death the remaining ten per cent divided between them.
