Marlow v Croft [2020] NSWSC 251

Fourteen years before his death, in 2002, Thomas Marlow had done his Wills using a proforma will form. This is a form that sets out the clauses and you fill in the gaps.

The form read "I give the residue of my estate to" and Thomas had written:

"My wife Violet Marlow and to stay at the Blacktown property till she dies and the house or belongings not to be sold until the death of my wife Violet Marlow also all money in bank goes to my wife"

This clause raised a big question: Did Thomas give his wife the Blacktown property, or only the right to live in it?

His children argued that Violet only had a licence to live in the property, which ended when she went to stay with her niece.

It was up to the Court to determine what the clause in the Will meant.