Former INXS manager in $500 million inheritance battle
The former manager of Australian rock band INXS is embroiled in a bitter court fight with his family over his late father’s $500 million estate.
It is the latest in a series of cases involving the wealthy family around the world and one of a growing number of inheritance disputes in the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney.
Robert Perez de la Sala, known as Bobby, died in July 2022 at the age of 86. He was a member of a maritime dynasty founded by his late father, Robert senior.
NSW Supreme Court Justice Guy Parker as a preliminary decision this week “The deceased’s assets alone are said to be worth more than $500 million,” he said.
Bobby had four children with his wife Terrill, including their daughter Maria-Christina, who ran INXS in Europe for a time.
Under a will dated July 2019 and updated in minor ways in January 2020, he left the bulk of his estate to Terrill.
However, Parker said it was revealed that the deceased had transferred $20 million in Australian dollars to Maria-Christina’s ex-husband, former British SAS major James Copinger-Symes, just days before his death.
“Then a few weeks later Terrill made another $20 million gift to James,” Parker said.
Maria-Christina claims Terrill gave a total of $67 million to all three of her siblings. The judge said that he “believed that these money came from his father’s inheritance.”
“He didn’t get anything from his mother,” Parker said.
In 2023, Maria-Christina filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court against her mother, the executor of the estate.
He is looking for a family provision orderThis is, among other things, a way for current or former dependents of the deceased to receive a share of the inheritance if inadequate provision has been made for them in the will. However, the court will make such a decision only on the basis of need.
“Other than the size of the property under consideration, there is nothing unusual about the request for family assistance,” Parker said.
Maria-Christina and her ex-husband separated in 2017 and divorced in 2019. He fell out with other members of his family during a separate court fight involving the dynasty in Singapore.
“The separation was extremely painful,” Parker said. “In fact, instead of James being ostracized from the family as a result of his marriage breaking down, [Maria-Christina] instead it was excluded.
Maria-Christina and her ex-husband were involved in a separate case in London that revealed a $20 million payment her family made to her. It turned out that the payments in these transactions were made without his knowledge.
Mary-Ann de Mestre, principal at Sydney law firm M de Mestre Lawyers and lecturer in probate law at Macquarie University, said family support cases were “a reminder that a will is not always the final word”.
“The law recognizes that certain relationships carry obligations that may continue after death, and the court has the power to intervene in cases where it considers that adequate arrangements have not been made,” De Mestre said.
“At the same time, these disputes show how complex family and financial arrangements can become, particularly where there are blended families, significant assets or long-standing disputes.”
He said in NSW “people generally have the freedom to leave their property to whomever they choose, but that freedom is not unlimited”.
NSW Succession Act It “allows certain individuals, such as a spouse, child, ex-partner or sometimes dependent, to appeal to the Supreme Court if they believe they do not have adequate care, education or adequate opportunities to get ahead in life,” De Mestre said.
He said the Perez de la Sala case “highlights another feature that is quite common in estate cases: family provision claims rarely exist in isolation.”
“These often arise alongside other legal disputes regarding property, for example, disputes over who actually owns certain assets, questions about transactions that occurred before death, or issues surrounding the administration of the estate.”
In his March 6 ruling, Parker dismissed a broader set of Maria-Christina’s allegations against other family members.
However, it allowed him to reformulate a claim about the family patriarch’s alleged promises to give him a share of the family business’s assets.
The judge said it was difficult to determine what that was. [Maria-Christina] She claims her father actually promised to do so,” and the current claim is “flawed,” but she gave him permission to file an updated claim.
