Hemmant’s List member Harrison Smith recently appeared for the successful applicant in In the Will of Clifford Stanley Perrin [2026] QSC 247, an unusual succession law case examining the effect of a romance scam on a deceased person’s will.
The decision, delivered by Treston J in the Supreme Court of Queensland on 24 September 2026, considered whether a gift under a will could take effect where the primary beneficiary was found to be a fictitious person.
Background
The deceased, Clifford Stanley Perrin, had maintained an online relationship for more than a decade with a woman he believed to be his wife, following a purported proxy marriage in New York in 2013. During that time, he was induced to transfer money, cryptocurrency, gift cards and personal information to the purported wife, who identified herself as Stella Helena Perrin.
In his 2024 will, Mr Perrin appointed Stella as executor and left her the bulk of his estate. His daughter was nominated as an alternative executor and beneficiary of the entire estate, but the gift over was expressly conditional upon Stella predeceasing him.
Following Mr Perrin’s death in December 2025, his daughter applied to the Supreme Court for probate and declarations concerning the proper construction of the will. Evidence established that the purported marriage documentation was fraudulent and that Stella was not a real person.
The Court’s Decision
Treston J found that the appointment of Stella as executor and the testamentary gift in her favour failed because she did not exist as the person contemplated by the deceased.
The central legal question was whether the gift over clause in favour of Mr Perrin’s daughter could operate despite the specified contingency — Stella’s death before the testator — never having occurred.
Applying the longstanding rule in Jones v Westcomb (1711), Her Honour concluded that Mr Perrin must have intended his daughter to inherit the estate had he contemplated that Stella was fictitious. The gift over clause therefore operated in the circumstances that had arisen.
Her Honour also considered an alternative argument based on Kennell v Abbott (1799), concerning the severance of testamentary gifts arising from a fraudulent assumption of a beneficiary’s identity or character. The Court indicated that this principle would have provided an alternative basis for severing the provisions in Stella’s favour.
The Court upheld the validity of the will, granted probate to Mr Perrin’s daughter and declared her entitled to the residuary estate as sole beneficiary.
Significance of the Decision
The judgment provides a compelling illustration of how established principles of succession law can be applied to modern forms of financial exploitation and online romance fraud.
It also highlights the importance of testamentary construction, particularly where unforeseen circumstances prevent a primary gift from taking effect.
Harrison was instructed by Robert O’Neil of ROC Legal.