An immigrant cleaner who helped build one of Australia’s largest privately owned cleaning companies has become the focus of a bitter family war from beyond the grave, with rival camps battling over his $28million fortune nearly a decade after his death.

George Tsivis and Angela Sakellis married in 1968 and founded what would become the Broadlex cleaning empire a year later as a tiny two-person Sydney operation.

Their marriage collapsed in the 1970s, but the couple continued working side by side for another four decades, building a multimillion-dollar business that today employs about 2,000 people and counts major corporations like CBRE among its clients.

When George died in October 2016, he left behind an estate worth almost $28million, including real estate across Australia, valuable company interests and millions in other assets. Probate was granted to his brother, Peter Tsivis, his de facto partner Karen Leith Williams and his nephew Michael Tsivis.

But the empire he spent a lifetime building soon became the subject of a bitter succession battle over valuable company shares, six-figure annual payments and control of the multimillion-dollar fortune.

The extraordinary dispute would ultimately outlive many of the people at its centre.

George’s sister, Maria Sotiriadis, died in December 2022. His ex-wife Angela died in October 2023. Yet the fight over valuable Broadlex-linked shares remained unresolved, eventually landing in the NSW Supreme Court almost a decade after George’s death.

At the heart of the dispute was George’s stake in Sequoyah Investments, a company linked to the Broadlex empire.

Broadlex founder George Tsivis pictured in his office with some old-fashioned cleaning gear in 1988 started at the bottom as a cleaner before establishing a multi-million dollar empire

George Tsivis and Angela Sakellis (pictured) married in 1968 and founded what would become the Broadlex cleaning empire a year later as a tiny two-person Sydney operation

Under his will, Angela was required to ensure George’s brother Peter Tsivis and sister Maria continued receiving annual payments equivalent to George’s $300,000 Broadlex salary. The siblings were each entitled to half the money, with the survivor receiving the full amount after the other’s death.

George intended Angela to eventually inherit the valuable shareholding, but only if she fulfilled those obligations.

In a major victory for Peter, Justice Michael Slattery ruled Angela’s estate had never earned the right to inherit the shares because the annual payments promised under George’s will were never made.

Instead, Peter will retain the benefit of the shares for life, with the multimillion-dollar asset ultimately returning to George’s estate rather than passing to Angela’s heirs.

The judge found George intended Angela to inherit the shares only if she ‘earned them’ by ensuring his siblings received the specified annual payments.

‘For years the parties were more focused on reaching a final settlement than making clause 11 work according to its true construction,’ Justice Slattery said in his written decision.

He said both sides had effectively allowed the arrangement to remain in limbo while negotiations dragged on, observing that ‘both parties gained some advantage in the negotiations from doing nothing’.

In one of the judgment’s most pointed findings against Angela, Justice Slattery concluded: ‘The probabilities are that she used the annuity as a bargaining chip.’

Broadlex became multimillion-dollar business that today employs about 2,000 people and counts major corporations like CBRE among its clients

He ultimately ruled Angela ‘only may receive’ the shares by ‘earning them through consistent support for his closest living relatives by ensuring the specified payments are made to them’.

Court records from an unrelated Supreme Court dispute in 2019 paint a picture of Angela as a wealthy property owner who spent years helping struggling relatives.

A judge found she acted out of ‘genuine concern’ for family members after reconciling with her terminally ill niece Antonia in 2008. Angela later allowed Antonia, her husband Constantine and their two children to live rent-free in a Seaforth property she owned.

After Antonia’s death in 2010, she continued supporting the family, later moving Constantine into another North Manly property she owned. The relationship eventually broke down, sparking a separate legal battle when he refused to leave the home. 

The dispute offered an early glimpse into the family tensions that would later surround the Broadlex fortune.

Peter won the battle for the shares, but the war is not over.

Justice Slattery reserved questions about who should control the trust holding the Broadlex-linked shares and directed the parties to consult on the appointment of a new trustee.

Nearly a decade after George Tsivis’s death, one of Sydney’s most unusual succession battles is still not over.