Hodgson v Hodgson

The matter before the court was an application by Ian Brian Hodgson, the administrator of the estate of Thomas Winston Hodgson, seeking a declaration that the trustee could distribute the remainder of the estate, approximately $320,000, among the known beneficiaries, Ian and Vanessa Hodgson. The application was predicated on the applicant's inability to ascertain the whereabouts of Kevin Hodgson, the deceased's other child. The primary legal issue was whether the applicant had taken reasonable measures to bring to the notice of Kevin Hodgson his potential interest in the estate, as required by section 136 of the Trusts Act 2019. The court found that the steps taken by the applicant, including advertising in newspapers and some searches through the police and Salvation Army, were insufficient. The court emphasised the importance of leveraging social media and employing a private investigator to locate a missing beneficiary in the current age.

In this case, the applicant subsequently engaged Dr Francine Tyler, a director of a genealogy research company, who conducted an extensive search for Kevin Hodgson. This included searches of genealogy databases, Facebook, electoral rolls, publicly searchable electronic databases, and contact with various groups and individuals who might know of his whereabouts. Despite these efforts, Dr Tyler was unable to locate Kevin Hodgson. The court accepted that these extensive inquiries met the threshold of "reasonable measures" under section 136(2)(a) of the Trusts Act 2019. It was also satisfied that 60 days had passed since the last of Dr Tyler's inquiries and that no potential beneficiary had come to the attention of the applicant as a result of those measures. Consequently, the court granted the application, authorising the distribution of the estate as if Kevin Hodgson, or his child or children (if any), did not exist or never existed or had died before the date of the judgment.