Greenham v Greenham

In the case of Greenham v Greenham, the Supreme Court of Victoria was tasked with interpreting the terms of a will to determine whether a devise of "real estate" included water shares that had been unbundled from the land and converted into personal property. The dispute arose between the executors of the estate and the beneficiaries, with the latter claiming that the water shares should be included in the estate distribution.

The central legal issue before the court was whether the terms of the will should be construed as they stood at the time of the testator's death or at the time the will was made. The court considered the legislative intent behind the Wills Act 1997, particularly sections 34 and 36, which provide for the interpretation of wills. It was necessary to ascertain whether the will manifested an intention to include the water shares in the estate, given that the rights to the water had been separated from the land and transformed into personal property.

The court concluded that the will should be construed as it stood at the time it was made, based on the clear intention expressed in the document. This interpretation was supported by the authorities of Perrin v Morgan, Marley v Rawlings, McBride v Hudson, and Evans v Powell. The court held that the will's reference to "real estate" included the water shares, despite their subsequent transformation into personal property. The decision in Martin v Martin was distinguished on the basis that the circumstances and the testator's intentions were different.

The court's decision was that the water shares were included in the estate distribution, as per the terms of the will as it stood at the time it was made. This ruling ensured that the testator's intentions were respected, and the beneficiaries were entitled to the water shares as part of the estate.