East
Coast farmer Graeme Williams is suing Auckland barristers Robert Hacking and
Simon Jefferson QC for negligence, claiming $556,000 was wasted when a
relationship property agreement they helped mediate was subsequently overturned
in the Family Court.
A larger-than-life
identity on the East Coast, Mr Williams was angry at the outcome of a
relationship property mediation in 2011 asking: “How paying a further million
dollars to a woman I know is a liar, thief and manipulator of the children is a
better option than going to Court?” Mr
Williams subsequently did go to court with a Family Court judge finding his
former wife lacked credibility, fabricated evidence and had committed perjury.
The High Court was told
Mr and Mrs Williams separated in 2006 after sixteen years’ marriage. Relationship property at that date was valued
at some $780,000. Most of Mr William’s
assets, including his substantial landholdings, were held in a family trust and
were not relationship property. On
separation, Mr Williams agreed to transfer some assets out of the trust in what
he described as a desire to be fair to his former wife and to forestall
possible litigation. She was to receive
an interest in properties at Tokomaru Bay, a Mazda utility and $600,000 cash. Mrs Williams was not happy. She sued in the Family Court claiming a
bigger payout. An ill-fated mediation
followed in 2011. Mr Williams questioned
at the time legal advice given him during the mediation that agreeing to hand
over further assets from his family trust was necessary; if his former wife
went to court she might get an even greater share. After following this advice, Mr Williams
returned to the Family Court seeking to overturn the agreed mediation and to have
a judge rule on all his former wife’s relationship property claims. The judge rejected her claims to a share in family
trust assets and ruled she was not entitled to maintenance. The 2011 mediation agreement was set aside as
causing a serious injustice to Mr Williams.
He is now suing Auckland barristers Robert Hacking and Simon Jefferson
QC alleging negligence in the advice given as part of the 2011 mediation.
Williams
v. Hacking – High Court (27.04.17)
17.036