With the Erceg family’s squabble over funds allocated from the estates of the late liquor magnate Michael Erceg now apparently over, widow and inheritor Lynette can rest easier.
Michael was thought to be worth about $650 million when he died in a 2005 helicopter crash but, after his Independent Liquor company was later bought for $1.5 billion by Pacific Equity Partners and sold again to Japanese beverage giant Asahi, a dispute arose over how those funds were allocated.
In March last year, after three years of litigation that went all the way to the Supreme Court, Michael’s brother Ivan was denied access to documents revealing who got what from two trusts worth about $1.2 billion and why.
Ivan, a former bankrupt, got no payout from the trusts, of which he was a discretionary beneficiary.
During the hearing, lawyers for the trustees said Ivan Erceg was still in "enormous debt," although the judgment revealed he received $95 million from his brother's will.
Michael’s mother, Millie, also joined Ivan in launching the court proceedings and got some of the information she requested.
Since the Supreme Court denial, no action appears to have been taken by Millie or Ivan, who has lived overseas since his company Sensation Yachts went into receivership.
Meanwhile, Lynette has acquired her own business interests over the past few years, and an extensive property portfolio.
She owns a horticultural estate in Marlborough valued at over $13 million, pastoral land in Canterbury valued at more than $8.6 million and three Auckland residential properties together worth more than $19.5 million.
In 2013 she bought a dairy farm in Matamata for more than $21 million.
She co-owns Hamilton-based Mystery Creek Wines.