Tensions between two children and their stepmother coupled with confusion over ownership of estate assets caused the High Court to appoint independent executors to take control of Nelson car dealer Basil Jones’ estate. Little progress in estate administration had been made in the two years since Basil’s death in 2021 with ongoing hostility between Basil’s daughter Cindy and her stepmother Laurel.
In a will signed nine days before his death, Basil appointed as joint executors his children Cindy and Jason together with his wife Laurel. He and Laurel had begun a de facto relationship some 32 years previously, before subsequently marrying. Cindy and Jason are children of an earlier marriage.
All three were named as beneficiaries. There were complications.
Laurel was given a life interest only in the family home in Seaton Street, Nelson. The High Court was told the executors cannot agree on a programme for repairs and maintenance or alternatively for sale of Seaton Street and replacement with a more modest home for Laurel.
A commercial property in Collingwood Street was gifted in shares to Basil’s children Cindy and Jason and Basil’s grandchild Danielle. This was not a stand-alone asset available to be gifted; it was an asset of his car dealership: Sun City Motors Ltd. The Sun City Motors business itself was gifted in an equal three-way split to Cindy, Jason and Laurel.
The court was told that after her father’s death, Cindy unilaterally took control of Sun City Motors; transferring company shares into her name, appointing herself as sole director. She subsequently acknowledged that she holds Sun City in trust for her father’s estate. Urgent steps were necessary on her father’s death to ensure the business kept trading, she said. Laurel complains she is not being kept properly informed about Sun City’s profitability.
The court was told that Laurel has disclaimed all rights as a beneficiary in Basil’s estate. She is bringing both a relationship property claim and a Family Protection Act claim against his assets.
Laurel acknowledged there was a conflict of interest. She agreed to stand down as executor. Cindy and Jason should do so also, she said. Cindy and Jason claimed they could properly deal with the estate after Laurel’s departure.
Justice Isac ruled it was best to remove all three as executors. They had failed to agree on how their competing claims might be resolved. Their various conflicts of interest coupled with current hostilities meant agreement to resolve their differences was unlikely. In any event, Jason was not actively involved in estate administration. He is living in Thailand.
re Estate Basil Raymond Jones – High Court (7.06.23)
23.084