Bob Hawke’s youngest daughter Rosslyn Dillon has a chance of grabbing a bigger slice of her father’s $18million estate if she can prove she’s in financial strife, legal experts say.
The 59-year old former heroin addict was left $750,000 from the estate of Australia’s longest-serving Labor prime minister, following his death in May aged 89.
Her eldest sister Sue Pieters-Hawke, 62, and brother Stephen Hawke, 60, are also being left the same amount, as is Bob Hawke’s stepson Louis Pratt.
The late former PM’s widow and biographer Blanche d’Alpuget was left with everything else.
Bob Hawke’s youngest daughter Rosslyn Dillon (pictured) has a chance of grabbing a bigger slice of her famous father’s $20million estate if she can prove she’s in financial strife, a legal expert says
The couple’s three-bedroom mansion at Northbridge, overlooking Middle Harbour on Sydney’s Lower North Shore, sold for $9.2million in March.
The off-market sale reaped far less than the $15million figure previously reported in the media, including Daily Mail Australia.
Then there was a $3.6million luxury apartment with views of Sydney Harbour and Hyde Park which is likely to have appreciated in value since they bought it in November 2015. This is now her principal residence.
Ms d’Alpuget gained another $671,630 from the auction in August of 266 items, ranging from paintings to designer furniture.
Then there are the millions of dollars shares held within Bob Hawke’s private company, Robert JL Hawke and Associates, which he first established in 1992 under the name of Brittville.
Even before his shares and investments were factored in, Bob Hawke had assets worth $16.5million.
Australia’s longest-serving Labor prime minister (pictured in 2012) left $750,000 each to his three children Sue Pieters-Hawke, Stephen Hawke, Rosslyn Dillon and his stepson Louis Pratt
Given his extensive portfolio in a range of private companies, it’s possible his estate could be worth more than $18million.
Tracey Ryan, the practice manager of wills and estates at Shine Lawyers, said Ms Dillon’s legal challenge could succeed if she proved her $750,000 inheritance was insufficient to cover her financial needs.
‘On the face of it, I would suspect $750,000 may be inadequate given the lifestyle and the opportunities they’ve been given throughout their childhood and adulthood,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I can completely understand why they’re having a look at it.’
Under New South Wales law, the biological child of the deceased has a year to launch legal action against an estate, from the date of death.
The couple’s three-bedroom mansion (pictured) at Northbridge, overlooking Middle Harbour on Sydney’s Lower North Shore, sold for $9.2million in March
The off-market sale reaped far less than the $15million figure previously reported in the media, including Daily Mail Australia (pictured is a view of Middle Harbour similar to that from the mansion)
After that time, the vast bulk of the estate would fall into Ms d’Alpuget’s possession, giving her the power to decide if the assets should be divided up with the Hawke children when she died.
‘It’s most likely she wouldn’t do that given the agitation there between the family,’ Ms Ryan said.
NSW law bans stepchildren from being able to challenge an estate.
Joshua Crowther, a wills and estates specialist with the Stacks Law Firm, said Ms d’Alpuget had a better chance of maintaining her share of Bob Hawke’s estate, as inheritance laws looked more favourably upon a second wife than the adult children.
‘The court generally, or almost always, regards the surviving spouse as the object of the primarily obligation from the deceased,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘Comparatively, adult children are, let’s say, a rung down from the pecking order.’
Then there was a $3.6million apartment (building pictured) with views of Sydney Harbour and Hyde Park which is likely to have appreciated in value since they bought it in November 2015
Blanche d’Alpuget now lives in a luxury apartment with views over Hyde Park out to Sydney Harbour
For now, Bob Hawke’s eldest daughter Sue Pieters Hawke is happy with her $750,000 inheritance.
‘I’m grateful for what I received. It’s made a difference to me in my life,’ she told the ABC’s 7.30 program, which aired on Monday night.
‘It is mostly locked away but it means I don’t have to have financial anxiety.
‘I can supplement the pension, along with work and whatever, and my kids don’t have to worry about me.’
Ms Pieters-Hawke said she didn’t share his younger sister’s misgivings about their late father’s will.
For now, Bob Hawke’s eldest daughter Sue Pieters Hawke is happy with her $750,000 inheritance
‘I don’t share that dispute. I love and respect my sister,’ she said.
‘I don’t share her view on this one and beyond that, I honestly regard it as a private family matter.’
Mr Crowther said it was possible Sue Pieters-Hawke and Stephen Hawke received legal advice suggesting they wouldn’t succeed in challenging their late father’s estate.
‘I wouldn’t be surprised if those children, who are happy with what they’ve got, have spoken to a lawyer and been advised that if they bring a challenge to the estate, that they’d just lose,’ he said.
‘They could get a cost order of a couple of hundred thousand dollars.’
While a $750,000 inheritance seems small, Ms Ryan said courts didn’t care about fairness.
‘Unfortunately, the test isn’t what’s just,’ she said.
‘It’s not a “I get what they get, let’s make it even”.
In July, the late PM’s youngest daughter Rosslyn Dillon, a reformed heroin addict, launched legal proceedings against her father’s estate (she is pictured with her late father Bob Hawke in June 2013 arriving at the Sydney Opera House)
For years, Bob Hawke’s children had a frosty reception with their stepmother Blanche d’Alpuget (pictured right with Bob Hawke and his daughter Sue Pieters-Hawke)
Still, she suggested Bob Hawke could have left more to his biological children and he divided up his estate.
‘I do think, probably, given it was a second marriage and given the extent of assets available, he probably could have been more generous to his children to avoid all of this,’ Ms Ryan said.
For years, Bob Hawke’s children gave a frosty reception to their stepmother Ms d’Alpuget, who had long been their father’s mistress as he was married to Hazel.
In June, Ms d’Alpuget publicly snubbed her stepchildren at her husband’s memorial.
Ms d’Alpuget took the stage at Sydney Opera House to thank government dignitaries before finally acknowledging Mr Hawke’s eldest daughter, Ms Pieters-Hawke, and his granddaughter Sophie Taylor-Price.
Her glaring omission of Stephen Hawke and Ms Dillon did not go unnoticed.
Bob Hawke’s stepson Louis Pratt (pictured) was also left $750,000 in his will
In early 1983, Mr Hawke replaced Bill Hayden as Labor leader and went on to win the March election, ending Malcolm Fraser’s seven-year run as Liberal prime minister.
He would go on to win another three elections to become Australia’s longest-serving Labor PM, losing power in December 1991, aged 62, after his party rival Paul Keating successfully challenged him for the ALP leadership a second time.
After politics, his 39-year marriage to Hazel was dissolved in 1995, making him the first former Australian PM to get divorced.
Family: Bob Hawke pictured with his ex-wife Hazel (second from left) daughter Rosslyn (far left) daughter Sue (second from right) during the Labor Campaign in 1987 in Sydney, Australia
That year, he married his former long-term mistress Ms d’Alpuget, who he had first met 25 years earlier.
Like her 75-year-old stepmother, Ms Pieters-Hawke is this month releasing a book.
Hers is titled Remembering Bob (Allen & Unwin) which is hitting bookshops as Ms d’Alpuget releases Bob Hawke: the Complete Biography (Simon & Schuster).
It combines two previous works, Robert J. Hawke: A Biography (Schwartz/Penguin) and Hawke the Prime Minister (Melbourne University Press).