Vultures circled in battle of the wills, says Kathy Jackson

Kathy Jackson says she only wanted to protect barrister David Rofe from ‘vultures’ who were trying to get into his will.

Kathy Jackson at court in Syndey on Wednesday. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

A formerly bankrupt union chief who is poised to inherit a big slice of Sydney barrister David Rofe’s $30m estate has claimed she was the silk’s “day wife” and only wanted to protect him from “vultures” who were trying to charm their way into his will, a court has heard.

The former boss of the Health Services Union and Rofe’s estate executor, Kathy Jackson, is battling alongside Rofe’s carer and ex-partner Gregg Hele for a share in the barrister’s estate. The showdown is being fought in the NSW Supreme Court where a dozen people, including Rofe’s nephew Philip Rofe, are fighting over how to divide the estate after they failed to reach a mediated settlement.

Rofe died aged 85 in July 2017 after suffering from advanced dementia. He wrote about 40 wills, the majority of which were written after 2010 as his health deteriorated.

Ms Jackson, who admitted in a signed affidavit to personally typing Rofe’s final will in 2014, was left an inheritance worth 10 per cent, or $3m, while Mr Hele stands to receive 20 per cent of the estate, or about $6m.

David Rofe and Kathy Jackson.

Ms Jackson met Rofe in May 2012 — almost two years after he was diagnosed with dementia — and they developed a “close friendship”. Within two years, she became a beneficiary in his last wills.

On Wednesday, Ms Jackson told the court she had not ­wanted to be included in Rofe’s will, arguing that she was instead trying to protect him from being “misled” by Nick Llewellyn, the barrister’s one-time friend and “dependent”.

Mr Llewellyn is seeking a $3.75m inheritance, ownership of a Gold Coast ­apartment, and a forfeit of debts.

Ms Jackson’s inheritance was boosted from $45,000 in April 2013 to 10 per cent by March 2014. In July 2014, Rofe briefly removed the 10 per cent inheritance he’d put aside for Ms ­Jackson.

The court heard Rofe had sought to cut Ms Jackson and her then partner, former Fair Work Commission vice-president Michael Lawler, out of the will because Mr Lawler had ­allegedly used his position as the ailing barrister’s financial controller to buy a property next to the couple’s house in Wombarra, south of Sydney.

At the time, Rofe was living in Woollahra in eastern Sydney and Ms Jackson was a “trusted” friend who was acting as his ­“secretary/typist”. The decision, however, was short-lived. In Rofe’s final will, written in ­December 2014, Ms Jackson’s 10 per cent stake was reinstated.

Ms Jackson is not one of the officia­l parties bringing the inheritance battle to court but she would be a major beneficiary if the December 2014 will is upheld. At the time, Ms Jackson was bankrupt and any money she might have received­ would have been claimed by her main creditor, the HSU. Now she is out of bankruptcy, and the HSU has dropped any claims.