Ruling backs parents' rights to disinherit their children

Parents' rights to strip their children of inheritances have been upheld by the Court of Appeal in a ruling confirming a dead's man wish to cut his "disrespectful" daughters out of his will.

Barry Boon hardened his heart against his two daughters when they fought over his estranged wife's estate 19 months earlier. Each ended up with $56,000, while he was left with $20,000.

"They gave me nothing, not even respect, and that in my will is my gift to them nothing," he told his executor, the Public Trust, after he ordered that details of his funeral and even his death be kept from them.

After he died in 2002, his wishes were respected. There was no death notice and his estate valued at over $250,000 passed to his partner, Irene Curnow.

The Public Trust advertised for any creditors of Mr Boon to come forward but none did.When his eldest daughter, Maria Sadler, 36, finally learned of his death more than two years later, in 2004, time had run out for her to make a claim against his estate. A successful claim could have got her about $62,000.

She sued the Public Trust, saying that, as a potential claimant, it had a duty to tell her when her father died.

But the High Court, and the Court of Appeal in a judgment issued this week, have both rejected her case.

In a decision that clarifies an issue left open in previous cases, the Court of Appeal decided executors did not have a general duty to tell potential claimants of a death or a general duty to advertise for claimants. It did have a duty to tell when an executor knew someone wished to make a claim.

In Ms Sadler's case, there were no more than grounds for suspicion that she might make a claim, the court said.

Ms Curnow said her partner of six years made her promise not to contact his daughters when he died. "Deep down, in my heart, it was the hardest thing to do, not to ring."

She said he was driven by principle after being hurt and heartbroken by his daughters..

Ms Curnow, who took six months off her job to nurse him when he was diagnosed with cancer, welcomed the judgment.

"My shoulders are not so heavy. He's at peace, I'm looking at his photo and saying, 'It's all over."'

- © Fairfax NZ News