Szabo & Associates News & Updates

In a case described as ‘the first of its kind’ by NSW Supreme Court judge Geoff Lindsay, 3 aboriginal sisters have won an appeal to be given access to the Estate of their half-brother, who died without leaving a Will. MP Linda Burney has successfully plead with a NSW Supreme Court Judge to rule in favour of three of her Aboriginal friends, who were looking to access their half-brother’s $200,000 Estate. Their brother, Mr. Howard Stanley Wilson was a member of the Stolen Generation, and was adopted by a white family in a ‘forced adoption’ shortly after his birth. Ms. Burney addressed a letter to the court, seeking to ensure that the women would inherit their half-brother’s Estate, in front of the members of the white family that adopted, and raised him. Ms. Burney, the first Aboriginal to be elected to the Australian House of Representatives, was a member of the NSW parliament that amended succession law, the changes to which allowed the sisters to make the claim in the first place. 

Sadly, it appears that incidences of Elder abuse are on the rise across Australia.

As reported in our first blog about the dispute surrounding the estate of Sir Denzil Mcarthur-Onslow, a battle between siblings and property developers leaves the fate of the balance in dispute. It came to light that Sir Denzil’s children to his second wife, Lady Macarthur-Onslow, were locked in a battle about the future of their late father’s land, and the fortune attached to it. It is now clear that they are not the only ones who want to lay their claim to the estate, as the grandchildren of Sir Denzil, and his first wife Elinor, have entered the discussions, saying they deserve a cut of the money, which they always ‘assumed’ they would receive one day.

The Macarthur-Onslow family are locked in a legal battle to determine with property developers to determine the worth of their late father’s land, and how the proceeds of which will be split between family members. John Macarthur, a key figure in the Rum Rebellions, died in 1984, but after the death of his second wife in 2013, there remains confusion over what he left in his Will, and what she left in hers. His children, Lee and Katrina, have different opinions on where the money should end up, and developers who ‘purchased’ the land for $175million are watching with a keen eye to see whether their 4200 house development west of Sydney will be able to go ahead.

There has been an increase in complaints against real estate agents in NSW, despite introduction of new laws.