Australia, Sept. 10 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Aug. 11:

1. HIS HONOUR: Greenock is a historic industrial town by the Firth of Clyde, 25 miles west of Glasgow. It grew from a fishing community to become the site of the first dock on the Clyde in 1711. [1] It is the birth place of the late John Currie Docherty Hamilton (deceased) born in September 1946.

2. Reputedly, the town is home to the world's first "Burns Club", a club devoted to celebrating the life and works of the famous Scottish poet and lyricist, Robert Burns, with many of the founding members having known Burns himself. Burn's love, Mary Campbell (Highland Mary), who died in the town, is said to be buried in the Greenock cemetery. [2]

3. Whilst the deceased could apparently speed read, his composing skills, at least when it came to making his last Will, lacked the sublime expressive craft of Burns.

4. The Court today is determining, as a separate question, the true construction and possible rectification of the deceased's last Will, which has been sought as a prayer for relief in one of three proceedings. Two of the proceedings relate to the deceased's estate and one relates to the estate of his late brother, Robert. Other claims, including family provision claims, remain to be determined, though the parties have anticipated that their outcomes will be impacted by the initial decision regarding the proper construction of the deceased's Will.

5. Ultimately, I have determined that properly contextualised and construed, the deceased's rudimentary testamentary words reveal a clear dispositive intent and I reject a counter case of ademption with the consequence of intestacy regarding the deceased's last residence, a property at Terrigal (Terrigal property).

6. The deceased and his family emigrated to Australia in or about 1951 to 1952 when the deceased was aged 5. [3]

7. None of his upbringing or why he and his birth family ventured a life in Australia is readily disclosed by the evidence, which for Will construction purposes is unsurprising. The deceased was an ambulance officer by profession. [4] Though living to the relatively young age of 71 (well under four score years), the deceased's life was filled with familial and personal tragedy.

8. Each of the deceased's wife and three of his four children predeceased him and he, himself, in later years suffered from prostate cancer and the devastating effects of motor neurone disease to which he succumbed, compounded with the effects of a COVID-19 lung infection. [5]

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/198ba13053ce30be0604bbea)

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.