An administrator of a deceased estate can assert any estoppel or equitable defence that the deceased could have asserted in his or her lifetime, and the absence of a grant of administration at the time litigation is commenced is no bar once a grant is subsequently obtained, the administrator's title relating back to the date of death. A representation by conduct over a decade that no proprietary claim is being made, coupled with the other party organising their life on that basis, can give rise to a proprietary estoppel that defeats an otherwise valid trust. The question whether the Crown takes bona vacantia property by prerogative right or by statutory succession under s 61B(7) P&A Act (NSW) was left open.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 37 later cases that cite this judgment.
1 of the 37 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.