When Promises About the Farm End Up in Court

A recent NSW Supreme Court decision, Wright v Kennedy, shows how a farming family ended up in years of litigation over the family farm because the paperwork never matched the reality. A will drafted by an accountant instead of a solicitor, a gift of land tied to a subdivision that never happened, decades of unpaid work on the strength of verbal promises. Every one of those problems had a simple fix if it had been dealt with at the time.  

If you want a clear picture of how a family farm and poor succession planning can tear a family apart – read on. This recent case is worth every farming family in NSW paying attention to, not for the legal detail, but for how avoidable the whole thing was. 

What Happened in Wright v Kennedy

In July 2026, the NSW Supreme Court handed down its decision in Wright v Kennedy [2026] NSWSC 834. It was a dispute between siblings over the inheritance of the family farm, and it had all the outward signs of a well run operation: a working property, a family trust, a company. Underneath, the paperwork did not match the reality. 

The will had been drafted by an accountant rather than a solicitor. A gift of land depended on a subdivision that never happened. One sibling had worked the farm for decades on the strength of verbal promises about who would eventually get it, with nothing documented about how that unpaid labour would be recognised. When the father died, none of it sorted itself out. The loose ends became years of litigation between people who used to sit at the same kitchen table. 

We will not relitigate the judgment here. The useful part for farming families is this: every problem in the case had a straightforward fix if it had been addressed properly at the time. These are the lessons worth taking to heart. 

Have a Solicitor Draft the Will, Not an Accountant

Your accountant is invaluable for tax and structure. But a will is a legal document, and drafting one is legal work. A will drafted by someone who is not a lawyer is a false economy that can cost the estate a fortune. Ambiguous wording, clauses that do not do what everyone assumed, and gifts that fail on a technicality are exactly the kind of problem that ends up in court. 

A solicitor who understands farming will also make sure the will actually works with the trust and company that hold the farm, not against them. That alignment is the whole game, and it is not something a will template can do. 

Do Not Tie a Gift of Land to a Subdivision That May Never Happen 

One of the traps in the case was a gift of land that depended on a subdivision being completed. Subdivisions are slow, expensive and far from guaranteed. Councils say no. Money runs out. People die before it is done. If a gift depends on something that never happens, the gift can fail entirely. 

If you want to leave part of the farm to someone, the plan needs a fallback for what happens if the subdivision, the rezoning or the approval does not come through. Without one, you can leave a child with nothing, and the family with a fight, despite your clearest intentions. 

Your Trust and Company Should Match Who Does the Work 

Farm structures are often set up decades ago and never looked at again. Over the years, the people doing the work change, but the trust and the company do not. When the structure no longer reflects who actually runs the farm, conflict is almost built in. 

Control of the trust, the company shares and the way benefits flow should reflect reality, and should be reviewed periodically as the family changes. A succession plan that lines the structure up with who does the work is far harder to fight over than one where the paperwork and the people have drifted apart. 

Be Careful What You Promise About the Farm 

“One day all this will be yours” is one of the most dangerous sentences in farming. Said often enough, and relied on, a verbal promise about the farm can become the basis of a legal claim. Courts can sometimes enforce a promise about the farm, but only after long, uncertain and expensive litigation. 

That is not a plan. It is a lottery ticket. If you intend a child to have the farm, or a part of it, put that intention in writing, in a will and a structure that actually deliver it. If you do not intend it, be careful not to let years of behaviour say otherwise. Either way, do not leave it to memory and goodwill after you are gone. 

Document How Unpaid Family Labour Is Rewarded 

In the case, one sibling had poured decades into the farm for little or no pay, on the understanding they would be looked after in the end. When that understanding was not written down, it became one person’s word against the estate. Unpaid family labour is one of the biggest sources of farm disputes, and one of the easiest to prevent. 

If a family member is working the farm for below market wages on the promise of a future share, write down what that arrangement is meant to deliver. It can be a documented wage adjustment, an equity stake that grows over time, or a clear provision in the succession plan. What matters is that the deal is recorded while everyone agrees on it, not reconstructed years later in a courtroom. 

A Bad Will Costs Far More Than Good Advice 

The thread running through every one of these mistakes is the same. Each was cheap to fix at the time and ruinously expensive to fix later. Litigation over a farm estate routinely costs far more than the advice that would have prevented it, and it is paid out of the farm. 

Beyond the money, these fights cost years and relationships. Families stop speaking. The next generation inherits a feud along with the land. Getting proper advice up front is not an expense. It is the cheapest insurance a farming family can buy. 

The Fixes Are Simpler Than the Fight 
Case Study: The Will the Accountant Drafted 

A grazing family had their long time accountant prepare a simple will to save on legal fees. He was excellent with their numbers, but the will he drafted gave “the farm” to one son without defining which titles were included, and it said nothing about the land held in the family trust, which the will could not touch anyway. When the father died, the son believed he had been left the whole operation, while his sisters pointed out that most of the land sat in the trust and had not passed under the will at all. The family came to us with the dispute already simmering. We could not undo the drafting, but we mapped exactly what the will controlled and what the trust controlled, established that the trust land had never been the father’s to give away by will, and negotiated a settlement that gave the son the freehold home block and a documented path to the trust land, while the sisters received off-farm assets and a share of proceeds. It held the family together, barely. Had a solicitor drafted the will against the actual structure in the first place, there would have been nothing to argue about. 

Case Study: Decades of Work on a Handshake 

A daughter came home in her twenties and ran the family farm for nearly thirty years for little more than living expenses, on her father’s repeated assurance that “the place will be yours.” Nothing was ever written down. When he died, his will divided everything equally between his four children, making no allowance for the decades she had given the property. She was facing the loss of the farm she had built, and the only avenue left was a hard fought estoppel claim against her own siblings. We helped her gather the evidence of the promises and her contribution and resolved it before it consumed the estate, with an arrangement that recognised her work and kept the farm in her hands while fairly providing for the others. It worked, but it took a heavy toll on everyone. A single documented agreement, made back when she first came home, would have delivered the same result without the heartbreak and the legal bills. 

Wright v Kennedy is a hard reminder that good intentions do not protect a farm. The right documents, drafted properly and kept up to date, are what protect it. This is not just a legal issue. It is a legacy issue. If your will, your structure and your promises do not all say the same thing, now is the time to fix it, while it is still cheap and still your choice. 

Protect your farm, secure your legacy and keep what you have built in the family.