89-year-old mother to battle son in High Court over home

A Queenstown-based developer and his 89-year-old mother are preparing to battle each other over her Cromwell home in the High Court.

Alistair Hey and his mother Dorothy are trustees of the family trust that owns the home, according to a High Court judgment released on Wednesday.

A dispute arose between the pair when Dorothy wished to sell the property and move to Dunedin.

In 2016, she tried to remove Alistair as a trustee, and later sought to have her formerly estranged son Christopher appointed as a trustee.

Alistair believed Dorothy intended to claim the property for herself at the exclusion of him and his children. He refused to sign the documents removing his name from the property title.

Mediation between the parties failed, and they were now awaiting a trial date over the trust deed, Associate Judge Owen Paulson said in his decision.

In the meantime, Alistair sought a court order requiring his mother to give security of costs – a court provision provided when there is reason to believe the plaintiff will be unable to pay the costs if her claim is unsuccessful.

The court accepted Dorothy was a widow who lived alone surviving on the pension. She did not have the resources to pay an adverse costs order.

Alistair’s lawyer said if Dorothy was unsuccessful, Alistair would act as a reasonable trustee and find a resolution to move her to Dunedin.

However, the judge said the relationship between the mother and son had broken down.

‘‘It is entirely unrealistic to expect her to have faith that he will act in her interests.’’

The likely consequence of ordering security would be a delay in the trial proceeding and no-one would be able to deal with the Cromwell property, the judge said.

The claim was refused, and the case would proceed to trial.

In 2015, Alistair received his second conviction for assaulting a neighbour near his Queenstown property.

He was sentenced to 70 hours’ community work, and ordered to pay emotional harm reparation of $1500 for assaulting Tim Clark by spraying weedkiller into his face.

At the time, he denied most of the accusations.

‘‘The trouble is in life if you become a bit successful you just become a target,’’ he told Stuff.

The first conviction happened in January 2014 after Alistair assaulted his then 71-year-old neighbour Geoffrey Hamilton and intentionally damaged a BMW vehicle.