![\"Michaela](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ab26b9357499fdacb1cdd0be7daf9c7eb896381f.png\")
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March 7, 2026 \u2014 10:00am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n A daughter who claims she was cut out of a share of a vast $500 million inheritance has launched a court fight for a share of her late father\u2019s estate, in the latest in a series of legal feuds across the globe involving the wealthy family.<\/p>\n Robert Perez de la Sala, known as Bobby, died in July 2022, aged 86. He was a member of a shipping dynasty founded by his late father, Robert senior.<\/p>\n NSW Supreme Court Justice Guy Parker in a preliminary decision this week<\/a> said the \u201cdeceased\u2019s estate alone is said to be worth more than $500 million\u201d.<\/p>\n Bobby had four children with his wife Terrill, including their daughter Maria-Christina.<\/p>\n Related Article Under a will dated July 2019 and updated in minor respects in January 2020, he left the bulk of his estate to Terrill.<\/p>\n However, Parker said it appeared the deceased had transferred $20 million in Australian dollars to Maria-Christina\u2019s ex-husband, former British SAS major James Copinger-Symes, just days before his death.<\/p>\n \u201cThen, a few weeks afterwards, Terrill made a further gift to James of $US20 million,\u201d Parker said.<\/p>\n Maria-Christina alleges Terrill also gave a total of $US67 million to her three siblings. The judge said she \u201cbelieves that these monies came from her father\u2019s estate\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cShe herself received nothing from her mother,\u201d Parker said.<\/p>\n Maria-Christina filed Supreme Court proceedings against her mother, the executor of the estate, in 2023. It is one of a rising number of inheritance disputes playing out in the court in Sydney.<\/p>\n She is seeking a family provision order<\/a>, which is a way for current or former dependants of a deceased, among others, to seek a share of an estate if inadequate provision was made for them in a will. But the court will make such an order only on a needs basis.<\/p>\n \u201cApart from the size of the subject estate, there is nothing unusual about the family provision claim,\u201d Parker said.<\/p>\n Maria-Christina and her ex-husband separated in 2017 and were divorced in 2019. She fell out with other members of her family amid a separate court fight involving the dynasty in Singapore.<\/p>\n \u201cThe falling out was exceptionally bitter,\u201d Parker said. \u201cIndeed, rather than James being excluded from the family as a result of the breakdown of his marriage, [Maria-Christina] was excluded instead.\u201d<\/p>\n Maria-Christina and her ex-husband were embroiled in separate litigation in London that revealed the $20 million payment made to him by her family. It emerged in those proceedings that the payment had been made without her knowledge.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Mary-Ann de Mestre, principal of Sydney law firm M de Mestre Lawyers, and a lecturer in succession law at Macquarie University, said family provision cases were \u201ca reminder that a will is not always the final word\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe law recognises that certain relationships carry obligations that can continue after death, and the court has the power to step in where it considers adequate provision has not been made,\u201d de Mestre said.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the same time, these disputes illustrate how complicated family and financial arrangements can become, particularly where there are blended families, significant assets, or long-standing disagreements.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Article She said that in NSW, \u201cpeople generally have freedom to leave their estate to whomever they choose. However, that freedom is not unlimited\u201d.<\/p>\n![\"Maria-Christina](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/06b134794c49bd7328bb5206c590455b86ec64d0.jpeg\")
Maria-Christina Perez de la Sala.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772875032_166_50855b2865a0411216de2f0caa6e642404381587834172bdd8919ac9442decf8.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/52b9cb21b5389ffd470f640af17ed18e51d62329ffff03b757c9495df935f576.jpeg\")
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