A son who claimed a $7.5 million home in Sydney was all his has lost a bitter inheritance battle against his estranged sister.
Robert Bruce claimed his late mother’s Arcadia Street property in Coogee was destined to be his and ploughed money into renovating the home, Supreme Court documents show.
Mr Bruce’s parents, Agnes and Colin Bruce, bought the seaside property in 1977 for $55,500. When Agnes died in April 2024 aged 102, the property’s value ballooned to an estimated $7.5 million.
The dispute between Mr Bruce and his sister Paula centred around a 2015 will left behind by Agnes.
He claimed Anges was subjected to “undue influence” by his sister to split the property equally between siblings and called for a 2010 making him as the sole owner of the house to be upheld. He claimed his mother “lacked testamentary capacity” at the time of the 2015 will came into effect.
He told the Supreme Court of New South Wales when his parents bought the property in 1977 they promised it would one day belong to him.
Justice Kate Williams rejected the allegations and said there wasn’t enough evidence to prove Agnes ever made such a promise.
She also threw out claims Ms Bruce tricked her mother into changing the will and found Agnes “knew and approved” of the contents of the 2015 will and it reflected “her real intention and true will”.
The court accepted evidence Agnes changed the will because the Coogee home’s soaring value upset what she saw as a fair balance between her two children.
Ms Bruce, a solicitor, said she had been “deeply hurt” after learning her mother’s 2010 will generously favoured her brother. She said it was “grossly unfair” and stopped speaking to her mother for 18 months.
The judgement brings to an end a family feud that has run for more than two decades and seen the siblings barely speak to each other.
Mr Bruce claimed he was denied his fair share of the profits from a separate former family Coogee property on Berwick Street sold to a development for $2.4 million in 2001. Ms Bruce said she legitimately bought the home from her parents years earlier but selling it off.
Justice Williams rejected Mr Bruce’s account and found his sister had become the sole legal and beneficial owner of the Berwick Street property in 1993.
She said Mr Bruce’s recollection of events and conversations from decades earlier couldn’t be relied upon.
The court also heard wild claims Ms Bruce said her brother’s wife Lorraine married him for the family fortune and wanted a stake in the multi-million-dollar Coogee property. Lorraine claimed the rumours destroyed the family relationship and led to a breakdown in trust.
Ms Bruce denied making the comments and Justice Williams sided with her.
The costly legal dispute risks leaving Mr Bruce with a $1 million legal fee.
Subsequent costs rulings order Mr Bruce to pay 70 per cent of his sister’s legal fees.
The judge also revealed Robert had turned down a pre-trial settlement offer under which he would have received an extra $200,000 from Paula’s share of the estate. Justice Williams noted that had Robert accepted the offer he would have achieved “a more favourable outcome than he achieved at trial.”
This is not the only family feud to reach the courts in recent months.
In April, the daughter who claims she was promised her father’s real estate agency in Sydney’s eastern suburbs lost her final bid for a slice of the family business.
Paula-Marie Penya claimed her father Paul promised she would end up a “rich little girl” if she worked at Matra Real Estate without pay, and was promised both the business and their family home in Eastlakes once he retired.
However, upon his retirement in 2018, Mr Penya ended up selling the business to Century 21 Real Estate for just over $220,000.
Mr Penya gave Paula-Marie $5000 from the sale.
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