Rita Stephanie Edwards alleged her daughter Stephanie Amy Crawford was holding onto her share until she was discharged from bankruptcy.

Her mother, Maria Mammarella, died in 2014 and by her will left a one-fifth share of her estate to each of her four other daughters, Ms Edwards' sisters, and her granddaughter Ms Crawford.

Ms Edwards claimed her mother told her the estate was intended to be split equally between herself and her four sisters.

In an affidavit submitted to the court, Ms Edwards said she asked her mother to put her share into a trust with Ms Crawford until the period of bankruptcy was over because she was worried she would lose her inheritance to creditors.

"Never did we discuss [my daughter] sharing the money with me. She was to hold it for me until I came out of bankruptcy," Ms Edwards said in the affidavit.

After the alleged secret trust was established, the relationship between Ms Edwards and Ms Crawford deteriorated and ultimately Ms Crawford obtained a restraining order against her mother.

Ms Edwards said she had discussed with Ms Crawford using the money to buy a nice house on Mount Hicks Road near Wynyard and she had only offered her daughter a sum of $10,000 to $20,000, not the whole share.

But Acting Justice David Porter said Ms Edwards had failed to make out she was in fact the beneficiary of a secret trust.

"A secret trust arises when a testator tells another that he or she is to be given property on the testator's death but they are to hold that property on trust for a third party," Acting Justice Porter said.

"It is therefore a trust which the testator intends to create, but which for some reason or another chooses to suppress on the face of the will."

Acting Justice Porter said there was difficulty in relation to a clear expression of Ms Mammarella's intention for the share.

"[Ms Edwards] has failed to establish that the testator had an intention to impose any obligation on [Ms Crawford] at all, moral or otherwise," he said.

"I am satisfied that the bequest as made in the will was intended to be absolute."