A $ 4 million house in Sydney has fueled a bitter legal battle between two sisters after one of them refused to move. leading to her arrest.
When their mother died in 2021 at the age of 93, the sisters remained the vast majority of $ 4.2 million behind the vast majority of $ 4.2 million, which had to be shared equally.
The big property was a house in Cremorne on Sydney's Ritzy Lower North Shore, which was appreciated at $ 3.9 million.
Probate was granted in 2022, which means that the assets could be distributed, but a sister refused to leave the house, which means it could not be sold.
The case eventually went to the NSW Supreme Court, but the sister in the house refused to attend the courtthe Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Justice Michael Slattery said that the refusal of the sister 'seems to be simple, darkening, distraction and ultimately no communication at all'.
He said that the behavior was an 'unacceptable' delay and that an independent manager appointed in 2023 was 'confronted with the same lack of responsiveness'.
Justice Slattery said that the continuous occupation of the property 'paralyzed the administration of the estate' and unfairly denied the sister who did not live in it 'half of the capital of the estate to which it is entitled'.
The Great Property was a house in Cremorne on Sydney's Ritzy Lower North Shore, which was appreciated at $ 3.9 million (shown stock image of Cremorne Point)
A house of millions of dollars that have been left together to two sisters in a will has torn a Sydney family apart and has even led a sister to be arrested (depicted Maccallum Pool in Cremorne Point)
Last December, the manager launched civil proceedings to obtain the possession of the property to sell it.
The sister who lived in it was ordered to appear in court on 7 February, but did not show up.
Justice Slattery said it was a 'reasonable conclusion' that the sister had 'the view that it is in her favor to continue to ignore the court so that she can occupy the ownership of Cremorne'.
When the sister did not show up again, the judge gave an order for her arrest “to bring her to the court to demand that she personally answers the trial of the court and deals with the threatening future problem that she can be removed from the Cremorne -ownership.”
When she finally presented the court at the end of February, the judge thanked 'De Seriff and police involved in the performance of that order'.
“By violence being brought to court, with which it is also confronted, it will give her the chance to organize herself and it will reduce even more traumatic effect if she is suddenly removed from Cremorne's ownership,” he said.
The sister who lived in the house agreed to leave it on April 4 when the manager will take possession and sells.
Adrian Corbould from Turnbull Hill Lawyers, who specializes in wills and estates, said he sees three or four things a year in which a family member refused to leave a property, but it was unusual to see a case 'go far'.
The behavior was an 'unacceptable' delay and an independent manager 'confronted with the same lack of responsiveness' (depicted Cremorne Point to Mosman Bay Walk)
“If people did this regularly, it would be absolute chaos,” he said.
“In the end she worked together, but it took a lot of work.”
University of New South Wales Law Professor Prue Vines told Daily Mail Australia that death often brings out the worst in people.
“If you are talking about general human behavior, if there is a lot of money, people tend to be there,” she said.
“I only noticed that people that everyone always thought were not very greedy, suddenly you see them taking these (legal) actions while you didn't think they would do that.”
Prof Vines added that 'we all know that we have a less pleasant side and we may have tendencies that we have tried to control, to be a decent person.
“Sometimes that control seems to break for people, especially if there is a big shock … if money is involved.”
