Re Haddow; Haddow v Haddow

The applicants in the case of Re Haddow; Haddow v Haddow were the estate administrators of the deceased, seeking summary judgment under the Family Provision Act 1984 (Vic) for a family provision claim. The respondents were the deceased's children, who had already inherited the estate. The dispute centred on whether the applicants could obtain summary judgment, given that the originating motion was filed within the statutory time limit but was not served on the respondents before the time limit expired. The case was heard in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

The court was required to determine whether the applicants' failure to serve the claim on the respondents within the statutory time limit meant that the claim was time-barred, and if not, whether the applicants could still obtain summary judgment under the Civil Procedure Act 2010 (Vic). The court also needed to consider whether the estate had been distributed after the time limit for the claim, and if so, how this affected the applicants' ability to obtain summary judgment.

The court held that the applicants' failure to serve the claim on the respondents within the statutory time limit did not necessarily mean that the claim was time-barred. The court found that the respondents had actual or constructive notice of the claim, and therefore the applicants' claim was not time-barred. The court further found that the estate had been distributed after the time limit for the claim, but this did not affect the applicants' ability to obtain summary judgment. The court granted summary judgment to the applicants, finding that the respondents had no reasonable defence to the claim.

The court's final orders included granting summary judgment to the applicants, dismissing the respondents' application to set aside the judgment, and ordering the respondents to pay the applicants' costs. The court also ordered that the respondents' inheritance of the estate be set aside, and that the estate be distributed according to the Family Provision Act 1984 (Vic).