FAMILY PROPERTY DISPUTE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17651, 11 December 1920, Page 10

FAMILY PROPERTY DISPUTE.

QUESTION OF TRUST. A family dispute involving the ownership of a property at Thames was the subject of an action in the Supreme Court yesterday, before Mr. Justice Cooper. The plaintiff was William Alfred Styak (Mr. Reed, K.C., and Mr. Anderson), of Auckland, solicitor, and the defendant, Mabel Amy Ida Mountain (Mr. Richmond), wife of Thomas John Mountain, of Thames, surveyor, and sister of the plaintiff. The statement of claim "set forth that at the time of her death, Maria Theresa Styak, mother of "the parties, was the registered owner of a property known as Oaklands, in Hape Read, Thames. ' The property in question, it was contended, was held in trust by Maria Theresa Styak for the use of herself and her husband during their lives, and after their death for the plaintiff and defendant in equal shares. The plaintiff had applied to the defendant as executrix of Maria Theresa Styak, to administer the land in accordance with the terms of the trust upon which it was held, but the defendant had declined to do so. The action was for a declaration of trust in connection with the property. "The defence was a denial of the existence of a trust, and incidentally the Statute of Erauds was set -up. Evidence was given at length by the plaintiff in support of the claim, and the further hearing of the case was adjourned till Monday.