Fraud claim binned as Pratt love child chases fortune

A judge has thrown out fraud claims made against the estate of billionaire Richard Pratt. (Julian Smith/AAP PHOTOS)

Claims the love child of late billionaire Richard Pratt was excluded from his immense estate due to "fraudulent bad faith" have been binned by a judge.

Paula Sarah Hitchcock has sued the trustee of the packing magnate's estate and her half-siblings Anthony Pratt, Heloise Waislitz and Fiona Geminder in the NSW Supreme Court for a portion of her father's fortune.

The 27-year-old is the daughter of Mr Pratt, who died in 2009, and his mistress Shari-Lea Hitchcock.

Anthony Pratt (file image)
Anthony Pratt and his sisters are being sued by a half-sister for part of their father's fortune.

She alleges she is a beneficiary of the estate and the trustee breached its duties and engaged in fraud because it acted at the directions of her half-siblings to exclude her in June 2001.

The lawsuit has been mired in legal disputes between the family members for 30 months and Ms Hitchcock was on Wednesday given court permission to file the sixth version of her pleadings.

But Justice Michael Meek struck out key parts of her claims, including a bid to receive equitable compensation as an alleged breach of duty by the trustee.

He found she had failed to state exactly what loss she suffered because of this purported breach of duty.

The dismissed compensation claim is separate from another she has been allowed to run seeking portions of her father's estate as his daughter.

Justice Meek also struck out sections of her pleadings that alleged the trustee had engaged in "personal conscious and fraudulent bad faith" by permitting her to be excluded.

Ms Hitchcock argued that because the trustee was allegedly dishonest by agreeing to the exclusion, he was also dishonest by failing to send her money afterwards.

"I do not consider that that reasoning is sufficient," the judge said.

Shari-Lea Hitchcock (file image)
Shari-Lea Hitchcock who had an 18-year affair with Richard Pratt settled with his estate in 2015.

But Justice Meek found certain facts pleaded by Ms Hitchcock could lead to an inference there was other dishonesty in the trustee's conduct if the matter went to trial.

He offered a third setback to the 27-year-old by striking out claims the trustee had consciously decided to waive its exclusion of her from the estate by sending her some funds.

There were "not merely grave but insurmountable difficulties" with these allegations, the judge said, because no details had been given about how the trustee could actually waive the exclusion in the first place.

Shari-Lea Hitchcock had an 18-year affair with Mr Pratt, the Visy Industries tycoon who died worth an estimated $4 billion.

She reached a settlement with his estate in 2015.

His billionaire son Anthony Pratt is now executive chairman of Visy.

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