The Australian Financial Review
By Nina Hendy & Michelle Bowes
July 22nd, 2026
A dad warned his kids not to dispute his will. Hoping for a share of their father’s property, three adult children defied the warning and took his estate to court anyway. The result busts four major inheritance myths.
When Graham Meares drafted his will in 2012, he bypassed his three estranged adult children and left his main asset – a $314,500 weatherboard house outside of Hobart – to his sister, Eileen Flint. To his son and two daughters he left the rest of his estate – an older model Holden Calais valued at just $12,000 – to be shared equally.
Meares also included a clause that should any of his children contest the will, they would receive nothing.
But following his death in 2021, his children did dispute the will, arguing that their father did not adequately provide for their “proper maintenance and support”, according to court documents. If adult children are deemed capable of supporting themselves, courts are reluctant to overturn a will. A judgment in the case – Smith, Smith and Burke v Flint – was handed down in the Supreme Court of Tasmania in February, delivering a disappointing result for two of Meares’ children, and a small win for the third.
