In short:
Sapphire Halliday, the daughter of late millionaire mining executive Garnet Halliday, is suing her mother over an alleged broken promise regarding the proceeds of her late father's estate.
asserted
Halliday → sue → estate
Ms Halliday's mother, Deborah Halliday, refutes the claims and is arguing in the Victorian Supreme Court that some parts of the alleged claim are legally non-binding regardless.
What's next?
uncertain
What → refute → claim
The matter is slated to go to mediation in March next year.
asserted
matter → slat → March
The daughter of a mining executive who was killed in a plane crash 20 years ago is suing her mother for part of the estate she alleges was promised.
asserted
she → kill → estate
Sapphire Britt Halliday has claimed in the Supreme Court of Victoria that her mother, Deborah Lakshmi Halliday, promised her a share of the family's 70-hectare farm in the central Victorian town of Macedon nearly two decades ago following the death of her father, Garnet Halliday.
asserted
mother → claim → father
Mr Halliday was a senior executive for West Australian mining company Paladin when he died in a 2007 plane crash in Malawi, Africa, aged 50.
asserted
he → die → Malawi
He was also the owner of a farm and cattle-breeding business Waterford Charolais, valued at about $3 million at the time.
asserted
He → value → time
Other assets in his estate include $26 million shares in Paladin resources and a $1.6 million life insurance policy.
asserted
assets → include → resources
The court heard Mr Halliday's will left $50,000 to his son from a previous marriage, Kaden, with the rest to go to his wife, Deborah Halliday.
asserted
rest → hear → wife
His son subsequently challenged the will and received a further payout.
asserted
son → challenge → payout
Sapphire Halliday, then 18, claimed in court that her mother promised her at the time that if she didn't make a similar claim, she would eventually receive an interest in the farm worth about $2 million, which she believed to be equal to her half-brother's claim, along with a 50 per cent share in the cattle.
uncertain
she → claim → cattle
The court heard Sapphire Halliday's mother also vowed to leave her own share of the farm to her daughter in her will if the farm was never sold, and if she helped run the family business.
asserted
she → hear → business
Sapphire Halliday told the court she gave up her right to challenge the will and her plans to study agriculture at university in light of her mother's assurances, before working on the farm for below-award wages for more than a decade.
asserted
she → tell → decade
Deborah Halliday denied making the promise and argued that parts of the alleged promise to her daughter were legally non-binding regardless.
The court heard Deborah Halliday is now in the process of selling the farm to pay off mounting debts.
asserted
Halliday → deny → debts
In text messages from May 2023 tendered to the court, Deborah Halliday told her daughter, "I hoped to pay you out like I paid [Mr Halliday's son]" but said "I just cannot pay you out at the moment."
uncertain
I → tender → moment
Sapphire Halliday's court documents also allege her mother told her at another point "the farm is mine".
asserted
farm → allege → point
Sapphire Halliday lodged a caveat over the farm on July 1, 2025, claiming total interest over the farm on the grounds of "estoppel" — a legal claim arguing that it would be unfair for her mother to go back on a promise she relied on.
Deborah Halliday told the court she didn't know her daughter was making a claim on the property until she received a solicitor's letter three days later.
uncertain
she → lodge → letter
The court heard Deborah Halliday suffered a stroke in 2021, which made it difficult to run a business that had been trading at a loss for several years.
asserted
that → hear → years
The court also heard that since late 2023, Deborah Halliday had borrowed close to $1 million against the farm from several parties: a private couple; a litigation funder to cover her legal costs; and a third lender to ease cashflow.
asserted
Halliday → hear → cashflow
Court documents showed the total debt is about $2.5 million, and that two of those lenders have since lodged their own caveats.
asserted
two → show → caveats
In an affidavit, her solicitor said Deborah Halliday "does not have enough money to support herself" and had no other property or steady income.
asserted
Halliday → say → property
The farm is currently estimated to be worth between $14 million and $15 million.
asserted
farm → estimate → ?
Associate Justice Barrett found Sapphire Halliday had established a prima facie case for proprietary estoppel, but said a claim to two-thirds of the farm's value was stronger than her claim to the whole property without any debt.
uncertain
claim → find → debt
He noted the text messages she relied on to support her case referred to a payment of between $1.5 million and $2 million, or a percentage of the farm's sale price, rather than a claim to the entire property.
The court also weighed the risk to Deborah Halliday's creditors against the risk to Sapphire Halliday's claim, and found the balance of convenience favoured letting the sale go ahead.
uncertain
sale → note → convenience
Associate Justice Barrett ordered the caveat removed, on the condition that $2.5 million was paid into court or an agreed trust account, securing the value of Sapphire Halliday's claim and the debts secured against the farm since she lodged it, while the claim is heard in court.
uncertain
claim → order → court
No trial date was set.
asserted
date → set → ?
Mediation is listed for March 2027.
asserted
Mediation → list → March
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