Judge delighted families settle row

A long-running family dispute has finally been settled.

A multi-million dollar family dispute that dragged on for a decade has been described as a "cancerous state of affairs" by a judge.

In a recent judgment, Justice Stephen Kos congratulated the Woodward and Smith families, saying a "decade, and countless cost wasted" was now behind them, because they had reached an agreement.

Mother and son Elaine and Ashley Woodward, had been in a long-running dispute with Elaine's brother Jon Smith, his wife Shelley and their son, also named Jon.

It centred around trusts established by Elaine and Jon's late parents, Arthur and Coral Smith.

Arthur and Coral Smith established the APLJ Trust in the eighties and made their children and grandchildren beneficiaries of the trust.

They also set up the Hawkhurst Trust for the Smith family and the Wanstead Trust for the Woodward family.

In 2013, the APLJ Trust was worth $5.6 million. The Wanstead Trust had $1.5 million in capital and about $500,000 in cash.

The Woodwards claimed the Smiths had stopped them from being involved with interests held by the one of trusts.

Mr Woodward also alleged his uncle had moved funds from the two trusts to the Smith family trust. Mr Smith denied this when it went to trial last year. Both parties reached an agreement at trial and signed a deed of settlement.

But the families failed to stick to this - which brought the matter back to court this year.

Last week, Justice Kos spoke to the family, who were in court, and said the litigation had gone on "quite long enough".

He said if they failed to come to an agreement, the value that might be used to settle would be depleted over months or years of further litigation.

The families went away during an adjournment and finally came to an arrangement.

The Woodwards accepted $1.3 million, made up of cash and property. Justice Kos thanked the families for "bringing this cancerous state of affairs to a conclusion".

In his ruling he said: "I am delighted the parties saw sense."