In the Will of

SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

In the Will of Giuseppe Benito Sydney Calabro [2024] QSC 71

PARTIES:

IN THE WILL OF GIUSEPPE BENITO SYDNEY CALABRO

Roma Catherine Calabro as Executor of the Will of Giuseppe Benito Sydney Calabro

(applicant)

FILE NO:

BS 5080 of 2024

DIVISION:

Trial Division

PROCEEDING:

Application on the papers

ORIGINATING COURT:

Supreme Court at Brisbane

DELIVERED ON:

30 April 2024

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

On the papers

JUDGE:

Muir J

ORDER:

1.   Subject to the formal requirements of the Registrar, the photocopy of the Will dated 28 April 2020 of Giuseppe Benito Sydney Calabro (also known as Joe Calabro), late of 290 Cobaki Road, Cobaki in the State of New South Wales, that is exhibit “A” to the affidavit in support of probate application of ROMA CATHERINE CALABRO made on 26 March 2024, be admitted to probate until the original will or more authenticated evidence be brought into and left in the Registry.

2.   That the applicant’s costs of the application be paid out of the estate.

CATCHWORDS:

SOLICITORS:

SUCCESSION - PROBATE AND LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION - GRANS OF PROBATE AND LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION - PROBATE OF LOST WILL - where the applicant has applied on the papers for probate of a photocopy of the will of her late husband - where the applicant is the sole executor of the will - where the will has been lost - whether the applicant should be granted probate in solemn form

Piper Alderman

1. This is an application on the papers by Roma Catherine Calabro for a grant of probate of a copy of the will of her late husband, Giuseppe Benito Sydney Calabro (also known as Joe Calabro), dated 28 April 2020.  The procedural requirements enabling the application to be heard and determined without oral hearing have been satisfied. 

2. The deceased died on 15 October 2023 aged 66 years and was survived by the applicant who is the named sole executor under his last will dated 28 April 2020 (a copy of which is in evidence).  The grant of probate of a copy of the will is sought because the original of the will has been lost, and despite all reasonable searches, cannot be found.

3. Notice of the applicant intending to apply for a grant of probate was served upon the Public Trustee on 23 November 2023 and a notice was published in the Queensland Law Reporter on 1 December 2023. 

   The lost will

4. The circumstances in which the will has come to be lost, which I accept, are as follows:

   (a)On 22 October 2019, the deceased and the applicant met with Greg Cahill of Cooper Grace Ward Lawyers (“CGW”) to give instructions for the preparation of their wills;

   (b)On 2 April 2020, CGW posted a letter to the deceased and the applicant enclosing copies of their wills for signing;

   (c)On 28 April 2020, both the deceased and the applicant signed their wills before Ms Andrea Lysnar and Mr Michael Lucas as witnesses. At the…