Cuplovic v Lydia Sacilotto (as Executor of the Estate of Giuseppe Vallelonga, Dec)

Lucia Cuplovic brought an application under the Inheritance (Family and Dependants Provision) Act 1972 WA seeking a better provision from her father's estate. The estate was contested, and the Supreme Court of Western Australia heard the matter. The court needed to determine whether the plaintiff was entitled to a better provision from the estate and, if so, what form that provision should take. Additionally, the court had to decide how the costs of the proceedings should be allocated among the parties.

The court found that the plaintiff was indeed entitled to a better provision from the estate. The court revoked certain clauses of the deceased's will and substituted a new clause that divided the estate among the children of the deceased. The court also addressed the issue of costs, deciding that the costs of all parties should be taxed on a party-party basis and paid out of the estate. The court further ruled that the costs for the first and second defendants, who were represented by the same solicitor, could be taxed in a single bill, with the Registrar having discretion to permit these costs to exceed the limit set by item 21 of the Supreme Court scale of costs.

The court's final orders included the variation of the deceased's will, the taxation of costs on a party-party basis paid out of the estate, and the allowance for the first and second defendants' costs to potentially exceed the limit set by item 21 of the Supreme Court scale of costs.