GERVASE & GERVASE

In *Gervase & Gervase*, Stevenson J of the Supreme Court of New South Wales was required to determine a dispute concerning the interpretation of a deed of settlement and its impact on the parties' respective entitlements to a property. The central issue revolved around whether the deed effectively extinguished the equitable interest of one party in the property, thereby preventing them from claiming a beneficial share.

The court was tasked with construing the language of the deed of settlement to ascertain the parties' intentions regarding the property. Specifically, it needed to decide whether the terms of the deed operated as a release or waiver of any equitable proprietary rights that might otherwise have existed in favour of one of the parties. This involved an examination of the express wording of the deed and the surrounding circumstances to determine if it clearly and unequivocally conveyed an intention to abandon or transfer such rights.

Stevenson J applied established principles of contractual interpretation, emphasizing that the court must ascertain the objective meaning of the words used in the deed, having regard to the document as a whole. The judge considered whether the deed contained a clear and unambiguous release of the equitable interest in the property. Ultimately, Stevenson J found that the deed of settlement did not operate to extinguish the equitable interest in question, and therefore the party retained their beneficial share in the property.