PODCAST · true crime
Just in Case Law
by Tanya Chapman
Hear about some of the most interesting Australian legal cases, including deceased estates, forged Wills, financial abuse, divorce and family law disputes, professional and medical negligence, and any other case that has enough drama to be worth discussing. I'm a solicitor specialising in Wills, Estates & Elder Law, so I kinda know what I'm talking about and will try to make it all make sense. This podcast is absolutely not legal advice or a dull legal lecture, but is more a legal soap opera! If you love true crime, but need a break from all the murder, this is the podcast for you!
Episodes
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SUCCESSION: Winners and Losers
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...
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ADMINISTRATIVE: Solicitor defrauding estates
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...
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SUCCESSION: The secret lover Part 3
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…
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SUCCESSION: The secret lover (Part 2)
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…
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SUCCESSION The Secret Lover (Part 1)
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…
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SUCCESSION: The missing man
CASE: Re the will of William Ian Southey [2025] VSC 801 Two months before his death, William Ian Southey made a Will leaving most of his $2.5 million estate to his partner Kyle Stuart Jackson. The only problem was that William had never met Kyle in person. And after William's death, Kyle could…
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SUCCESSION: A new carer
CASE: Anastasia Pates v Diane Craig and The Public Trustee Estate of the Late Joyce Jean Cole [1995] NSWSC 87 This case involves a dispute over the last will of the late Joyce Jean Cole and the accusations that Joyce did not have the capacity to make her 1993 will, that she didn’t know or approve...
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SUCCESSION: Disclaiming an inheritance
CASE: In the estate of Giuseppe Pellegrino (deceased) [2025] ACTSC 421 So many questions in this case. Can you disclaim an inheritance left to you in a Will? Yes. Does the disclaimer have to be in writing? No. If you refuse to respond to letters and email, and send back the inheritance cheque…
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FAMILY: When does a relationship breakdown?
CASE: Radecki & Fairbairn [2020] FamCAFC 307; Fairbairn & Radecki [2020] FCCA 1556 Fairbairn and Radecki started a relationship when both were in their 50s, had already acquired their own assets, and had their own children. A core element of their relationship was their agreement to always keep...
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SUCCESSION: Love, affection, but not money
CASE: Wertheim v Perpetual Trustee Company Limited [2021] NSWSC 1229Relationship come in all forms. The nuclear family dynamic is declining in prevalence. One form that is becoming increasingly common is the blended family, where you have spouses who have no children together, but have children...
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PROPERTY: Failed development plan
CASE: Rex Phillip Tory v Sarjit Kaur Tory [2007] NSWSC 1078 In 1986, Sarjit Tory owned real estate with her former brother-in-law Rex Tory. The land had great potential for rezoning and development. Sarjit and Rex agreed that Rex would make the arrangements and applications for rezoning and they...
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ADMINISTRATIVE: Kids' Kinder
CASE: Kids' Kinder Childcare Pty Limited v The Department of Education [2024] NSWDC 345 WARNING: Disturbing content; child abuse Parents are entitled to expect that when they leave their children at a childcare centre, their children will be properly cared for. That did not occur at Jumpstart...
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SUCCESSION: Close personal relationship
CASE: Estate MPS, deceased [2017] NSWSC 482; Smoje vForrester [2017] NSWCA 308 Miryana Smoje spent the last two years of her life dying slowly and in constant pain, from breast cancer and inadequate medical care, in a small hotel room in Frenchs Forest. She died without a will and her closest...
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ELDER LAW: Spink about it
CASE: Flourentzou v Spink [2019] NSWCA 315 In 2012, Dianne and Mario Flourentzou purchased a property in Casula to live in with their three children. Dianne's mother, Ricky Spink, contributed $165,000 towards the purchase and renovation of the Casula property on the understanding that she could...
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SUCCESSION: The influence of delusions
CASE: Croft v Sanders [2019] NSWCA 303 When Warwick Croft made his last Will in 2013, he was 82 years old and suffering from delusions. He believed that four of his daughters were scheming against him, that they worked in a brothel and were sending prostitutes to knock on his door late at night.…
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ADMINISTRATIVE What's yours is mine
CASE: Council of the Law Society of NSW v Zhukovska [2019] NSWCATOD 66 Recommended by Leah Murphy (formerly Leah Johnson) Myroslava Zhukovska was the solicitor for Dulcie Barbara Heane who was elderly and living in aged care. Within a short period of time, Zhukovska got financial control of...
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CRIME: Bourke Street car attack
CASE: DPP v Gargasoulas [2019] VSC 87 WARNING: Disturbing content of murder, violence and drug use. On the 20 January 2017, around 1.30pm James Gargasoulas drove a Holden Commodore into the pedestrian only Bourke Street in the Melbourne Central business district. He deliberately mowing down...
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ELDER LAW: A change of Will
CASE: In the Estate of McFadyen [2015] ACTSC 2019 In 2014, 64-year-old Shenee McFadyen was visited by an old work colleague, AB. Within the short two-week visit, AB took Shenee to a solicitor to do a new Will, leaving her whole estate to AB. Shortly after, Shenee was hospitalised with cerebellar...
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SUCCESSION: Moral forfeiture
CASE: Straede v Eastwood [2003] NSWSC 280 In August 2000, John Straede was driving his wife Cheryl to work. He overtook the car in front of him on a hill and collided with an oncoming vehicle. Cheryl was killed in the accident. John pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death. The question…
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ELDER LAW: Financial abuse
CASES: GYM [2017] WASAT 136 & KRM [2017] WASAT 135 By 2016, GYM and KRM has been married for over 60 years, had three adult sons and several grandchildren. They also owned a farm worth over $1.6 million, expensive farming equipment and tools, and a residential house in Mullaloo, WA. By the end of...
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HALLOWEEN SPECIAL
Let's celebrate the best holiday of the year with some funny Halloween legal cases! Thanks to Matt, my co-host for this episode <3
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CRIME: The straw man duality
CASE: R v Sweet [2021] QDC 216 Kym Anthony Sweet was charged with committing two criminal drug offences. He argued that he couldn't be charged because he consists of two separate entities: There was the real-life flesh and blood man that goes by the name Kym-Anthony and then there is a straw man…
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SUCCESSION: Executors can't hide
CASE: Suzanne Dale Smith by her next friend the Public Trustee -v- Marion Kathryn Partridge as executor of the Estate of Thomas Smith [2018] WASC 128 Marion was the executor of her late father Thomas Smith's estate. In her capacity as executor, she transferred Thomas's house into her name, and…
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CIVIL: A busy bookkeeper
CASE: Napier Keen Pty Ltd v Smith [2023] NSWSC 1134 Beverley was a bookkeeper for the law firm Keen Lawyers for 16 years. After Beverley resigned, her boss Mr Keen discovered that Beverley had been taking money from the business. Over a period of 7 years, she siphoned over $1 million from the…
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CONTRACT: The mistress contract
CASE: Ashton v Pratt (No 2) [2012] NSWSC 3 Madison Ashton provided escort services to the late Richard Pratt, a married man of exceptional wealth. She would provide such services from time to time and for reward. When Pratt ended the relationship in 2004, Ashton sued him to enforce their…
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ELDER LAW: Granny flat gone wrong #1
CASE: Hughes v Sangster [2019] ACTSC 178 Christine Hughes and her daughter Martell Sangster decided to combine their finances and buy a house together. Christine contributed 100% of the purchase price, but was only registered on title as owning 50%. Martell had promised that she would pay her...
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SUCCESSION: An international application (Part 2)
CASE: Re Estate Condon; Battenberg v Phillips [2017] NSWSC 1813 Blanche Minnie Condon died in 2016 leaving behind an estate worth about $7m. She had made her last Will only a few weeks before her death. Her Will made no provision for her nephew Andrew Battenberg, who was living in Scotland.…
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SUCCESSION: An international application Part 1
CASE: Re Estate Condon; Battenberg v Phillips [2017] NSWSC 1813 Blanche Minnie Condon died in 2016 leaving behind an estate worth about $7m. She had made her last Will only a few weeks before her death. Her Will made no provision for her nephew Andrew Battenberg, who was living in Scotland.…
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ELDER LAW: Granny napping
CASE: KNQ [2019] NSWCATGD 19 Despite the almost comical feel of the term “granny napping”, it is a serious problem that involves taking control over an older person’s life, isolating them from family and support networks, in order to get a financial advantage or other personal reasons. It is...
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SUCCESSION: Coupledom
CASE: NSW Trustee & Guardian v McGrath [2013] NSWSC 1894 Ethel Clarke was estranged from her family. Her closest relatives where six grandchildren who she rarely saw and who appeared to want nothing to do with her. When Ethel died in October 2009 without a Will, the NSW Trustee & Guardian were...
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ADMINISTRATIVE: The barrister that couldn't stop
CASE: The Council of the NSW Bar Association v Rollinson [2021] NSWSC 1319; The Council of the NSW Bar Association v Rollinson [2021] NSWSC 1090; The Council of the NSW Bar Association v Rollinson [2022] NSWSC 407; The Council of the NSW Bar Association v Rollinson (costs) [2021] NSWSC 1091…
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CRIME: Long awaited justiced
CASE: Katsis v R [2018] NSWCCA 9 WARNING: This case involves disturbing details of acriminal assault and rape. In 1988, Doris Fenbow was 66 years old and living in a housing commission unit in Little Bay. She kept to herself and didn't associate with her neighbours. In September, smoke was seen...
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CRIME: Adult chat
CASE: R v Bredal [2024] NSWCCA 75 WARNING: Disturbing content of child sex offences Daniel Christian Bredal (45 years old) was charged with a child sex offence, that offence being using a carriage service to groom a person under 16 years. There was no 16-year-old child on the other end of the...
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SUCCESSION: How to cancel your Will
CASE: In the Estate of Edward Steven Middleton [2019] QSC 128 If you tear up your Will, does it cancel the Will or does it only cause a whole lotta headache for the administrator of your estate? In this case, both. There is a presumption that where the Will was last in the possession of the...
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SUCCESSION: A random stranger
CASE: Sadiq v NSW Trustee and Guardian [2015] NSWSC 716 When Christina Coombes died in June 2013, she left behind a decrepit home in Paddington, Sydney, and no Will. After her death, Waleed Sadiq, a man 18 years her junior, claimed to have been in a romantic relationship with Christina for the…
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SUCCESSION: The good son
CASE: Priestley v Priestley [2017] NSWCA 155 In 2002, there was a rupture in the Priestley family that resulted in the father Gordon and his son on one side, facing off against the mother Beverley and two other children Christopher and Claire. It resulted in not only the breakdown of Gordon's...
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ADMINISTRATIVE: The lawyer's stalker
CASE: Re Legal Practitioners Admissions Board and Sousa [2025] QSC 56 In 2023 Chanel Sousa had completed her law degree and was ready to become a lawyer. She applied to the Legal Practitioners Admissions Board to be admitted to the Roll of Legal Practitioners, to be able to practice law in...
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SUCCESSION: Don't say estranged
CASE: Rada v Smith [2024] NSWSC 273 “In the legal folklore which surrounded will making in Victorian England, the archetype of the spiteful father was one who disinherited his only child and left everything to the Battersea Dogs Home. That, almost literally, is what the plaintiff says her late...
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ADMINISTRATIVE: Unprofessional messages
CASE: Jamil v Medical Board of Australia [2024] SASC 90; Medical Board of Australia v Jamil [2023] SACAT 45. In 2020 Dr Shamyal Hamoon Jamil was working as a registered medical intern at an Adelaide Hospital. At the same hospital, university medical students would under work placements. Jamil was...
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SUCCESSION: Entitled ex-wife
CASE: Milewski v Holben [2014] NSWSC 388 Colin Robert Holben died when he was 50 years old. His last Will created an overly complex structure of testamentary trusts to hold his $11 million estate for his family. His family consisted of his wife Lisa and their two teenage sons. But Colin had been...
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SUCCESSION: Grave owner
CASE: Vosnakis v Arfaras [2015] NSWSC 625 Helen Vosnakis was buried in Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park – formerly known as Botany Cemetery - on 25 July 2012. She left behind her husband, Joseph Vosnakis, and her mother, Aristea Arfaras. Not long after Helen’s burial, Joseph and Aristea would be...
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SUCCESSION: An expensive mistake
CASE: Galic v Engelina Maria Sellin as executrix of the estate of Milan Glavota [2025] WASCA1 Wills are important documents to be taken seriously, both in the drafting and the signing. They distribute the deceased person’s wealth and possessions. You definitely don't want there to be any...
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CRIME: Sentencing remarks (PART 6)
CASE: R v Struhs & Ors [2025] QSC 10 WARNING: disturbing content. 8-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs died on 7 Jan 2022 and her death was entirely preventable. Elizabeth was a diabetic and for two years, her condition had been managed and treated with insulin. That all ended on 3 January 2022 when...
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CRIME: The Saints on trial (PART 5)
CASE: R v Struhs & Ors [2025] QSC 10 WARNING: disturbing content. 8-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs died on 7 Jan 2022 and her death was entirely preventable. Elizabeth was a diabetic and for two years, her condition had been managed and treated with insulin. That all ended on 3 January 2022 when...
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CRIME: Unlawful common purpose (PART 4)
CASE: R v Struhs & Ors [2025] QSC 10 WARNING: disturbing content. 8-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs died on 7 Jan 2022 and her death was entirely preventable. Elizabeth was a diabetic and for two years, her condition had been managed and treated with insulin. That all ended on 3 January 2022 when...
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CRIME: Criminally negligent (PART 3)
CASE: R v Struhs & Ors [2025] QSC 10 WARNING: disturbing content. 8-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs died on 7 Jan 2022 and her death was entirely preventable. Elizabeth was a diabetic and for two years, her condition had been managed and treated with insulin. That all ended on 3 January 2022 when...
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CRIME: Near death (PART 2)
CASE: R v Struhs & Ors [2025] QSC 10 WARNING: disturbing content. 8-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs died on 7 Jan 2022 and her death was entirely preventable. Elizabeth was a diabetic and for two years, her condition had been managed and treated with insulin. That all ended on 3 January 2022 when...
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CRIME: The Struhs and The Saints (PART 1)
CASE: R v Struhs & Ors [2025] QSC 10 WARNING: disturbing content. 8-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs died on 7 Jan 2022 and her death was entirely preventable. Elizabeth was a diabetic and for two years, her condition had been managed and treated with insulin. That all ended on 3 January 2022 when...
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CRIME: DV and revenge porn
CASE: R v Toby McVoy [2024] NSWDC 534 WARNING: Disturbing content Toby McVoy was sentenced to 3 years and 2 months imprisonment for domestic violence offences against his former partner, referred to only as "XP". McVoy appealed against his sentence, arguing that it was too severe. His new partner...
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ELDER LAW: He said / she said
CASE: Simpson v Hodges [2007] NSWSC 1230 Pamela Amy Simpson died on 14 July 2004. She was survived by her two children: a son named Howard Collins Newby Simpson, and a daughter named Shelley Emma Elizabeth Hodges. Unfortunately, Pamela’s death kicked-off many used of litigation between her two...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Hear about some of the most interesting Australian legal cases, including deceased estates, forged Wills, financial abuse, divorce and family law disputes, professional and medical negligence, and any other case that has enough drama to be worth discussing. I'm a solicitor specialising in Wills, Estates & Elder Law, so I kinda know what I'm talking about and will try to make it all make sense. This podcast is absolutely not legal advice or a dull legal lecture, but is more a legal soap opera! If you love true crime, but need a break from all the murder, this is the podcast for you!
HOSTED BY
Tanya Chapman
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Just in Case Law have?
Just in Case Law currently has 166 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Just in Case Law about?
Hear about some of the most interesting Australian legal cases, including deceased estates, forged Wills, financial abuse, divorce and family law disputes, professional and medical negligence, and any other case that has enough drama to be worth discussing. I'm a solicitor specialising in Wills,...
How often does Just in Case Law release new episodes?
Just in Case Law publishes regularly with 166 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
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You can listen to Just in Case Law on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Just in Case Law?
Just in Case Law is created and hosted by Tanya Chapman.
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