Legal Tip 278: Inheritance issues when one child works on the farm

There are a lot of succession cases which involve children inheriting farms. This is because often one child will work on the farm while other children will leave and work elsewhere.

When the parents die, they might leave the farm to the one working and the others miss out and mount a challenge.

Often these challenges are Family Provision claims but sometimes they are claims of estoppel or undue influence.


One recent case long these lines is that of Birch v Birch & Ors [2018] QSC 289

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In this case there were 6 children with one of the children working on the farm for most of his life. This is a complex case with loads of issues but one issue litigated was a gift mum had made to the son in transferring 1/3 of the farm to him prior to her death.

This was challenged by other children who alleged undue influence. The court deemed there was no undue influence as the mother got independent legal advice. This was appealed too, and the appeal was unsuccessful.