Oreski v Ikac

The case of Oreski v Ikac involved a dispute over the estate of a deceased person, with the plaintiff, Oreski, asserting an entitlement to a portion of the estate based on an unsigned document. The document in question was claimed to be an informal will. The court was tasked with determining whether the unsigned document was intended to be the will of the deceased, and if so, whether the plaintiff was entitled to any costs associated with the probate action. The matter was heard in the Supreme Court of Western Australia.

The central legal issues the court had to address were whether the unsigned document could be considered an informal will under the Wills Act 1970, and if so, whether the plaintiff was entitled to have any costs associated with the probate action paid from the estate. The court examined the relevant principles governing informal wills and the criteria for determining whether a document was intended to be a will. The court also considered whether the unsuccessful party in the probate action could be awarded costs from the estate, as this was a matter of discretion.

In its reasoning, the court found that the unsigned document did not meet the criteria to be considered an informal will. The court held that the document did not clearly and unambiguously express the deceased's testamentary intentions. Additionally, the court ruled that the plaintiff was not entitled to have costs paid out of the estate, as the costs order was not a necessary consequence of the substantive claim. The appeal was dismissed on both the substantive claim and the costs order.

The court's final orders were to dismiss the appeal in respect of the substantive claim and the costs order, affirming that the plaintiff was not entitled to any part of the estate based on the unsigned document and that the plaintiff was not entitled to have costs paid from the estate.