Public Trustee -v-

The matter before the court involved the Public Trustee as the plaintiff and the defendant, who was the father of the deceased, who died intestate. The dispute centred on whether the father was entitled to recover the amounts of two alleged oral loans made to the deceased. The father had commenced proceedings in the District Court on 11 April 2007, claiming an oral loan made on 9 April 1997 and another made in February 2002. The loans were purportedly made to enable the deceased to purchase property, with the first being for property where the deceased was the sole registered proprietor, and the second for property where the deceased held a two-tenth interest, with the father and the deceased's brother as the other purchasers.

The primary legal issues before the court were whether the cause of action for the first loan accrued on 9 April 1997 and, if so, whether that cause of action was statute-barred. The second issue was whether the presumption of advancement applied to the second loan, thereby affecting the father's ability to recover the amount claimed. The court was required to determine these issues to decide the merits of the father's claims against the deceased's estate.

The court held that the cause of action for the first loan accrued on 9 April 1997 and was indeed statute-barred. The court found that the statute of limitations had expired, rendering the claim for recovery of the first loan invalid. Regarding the second loan, the court determined that the presumption of advancement applied, meaning that the father could not recover the amount claimed because the transaction was presumed to be a gift rather than a loan. Consequently, the father's claims were dismissed in their entirety.