Case: R v Duncan [2019] NSWDC 852; Council of the Law Society of NSW v Duncan [2024] NSWCA 147

Nigel Ian Duncan was a solicitor who sometimes acted as executor of deceased’s estates and acted for solicitors of deceased estates.

A client complaint lead to the discovery that Duncan had misappropriated $7,000 from a deceased estate. That little discovery lead to so much more.

CASE: Little v Little [2026] NSWSC 36

Marion Little died on 4 May 2024, aged 67 years old. In accordance with her Will, Marion's estate worth about $1,430,000 was to be distributed 50% to her brother Geoffrey and 50% divided amongst the 4 children of her deceased sister Karen.

Geoffrey's daughter Amy was not to receive anything from the estate. She made a family provision claim and the parties agreed for Amy to receive a sum of $394,000.

But where were those funds to come from? Was it to come entirely from Geoffrey's share of the estate? Half from Geoffrey's share? or some other proportion?

The Court was required to determine where the burden fell.

George Sclavos was a well-known member of his community in Leppington where her owned a pharmacy. George never married, never had children, and was 65 years old when he died suddenly of a heart attack in August 2013.

Okan Yesilhat was 30 years younger than George. It therefore garnered more than a little attention and surprise when, after George’s death, Okan claimed that for 14 years they had been having a secret same-sex relationship.

This secret relationship was the basis of Okan’s legal claims in relation to George's estate:

a. his claim for family provision from George’s extensive estate, worth $6m at his death,

b. his claim that extensive funds he had received from George were gifts and not loans,

c. his claim that the George’s informal will had been fabricated.

The big question was, did George and Okan really have a secret 14-year relationship or was the whole thing a fantasy, an elaborate story and elaborate deception intended to fleece the estate?

Citation:

• Yesilhat v Calokerinos [2015] NSWSC 1028

• Calokerinos, Executor of the Estate of the late George Sclavos v Yesilhat [2017] NSWSC 666 (9 June 2017)

• Calokerinos, Executor of the Estate of the late George Sclavos v Yesilhat (No 2) [2019] NSWSC 584 (22 May 2019)

• Calokerinos, Executor of the Estate of the late George Sclavos v Yesilhat (No 3) [2019] NSWSC 1752 (13 December 2019)

• Yesilhat v Calokerinos [2021] NSWCA 110 (28 May 2021)