Terence John McCorley and David John Lewis (as executors of the Will of Vera Rachel Pakleppa deceased) v Norman Pakleppa

The case before the court involved a dispute over the validity of a will executed by Vera Rachel Pakleppa. The will named Terence John McCorley and David John Lewis as executors and sought to distribute Vera’s estate according to its terms. However, Norman Pakleppa, Vera’s son, challenged the will, contending that certain alterations made to the document prior to its execution were not properly approved by Vera. The matter was heard in the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

The court was required to determine whether Vera had knowledge of and approved the alterations made to her will. Specifically, the dispute centred on words inserted by a solicitor while revising the will before Vera signed it. Norman argued that these changes were not authorised and thus the will should be invalidated or rectified to reflect Vera’s true intentions. The court needed to assess the evidence presented to determine whether the presumption of Vera’s knowledge and approval of the alterations had been successfully rebutted.

In its judgment, the court found that Vera did not have knowledge of the alterations made to the will. The evidence presented, including expert testimony and the circumstances surrounding the execution of the will, demonstrated that Vera was unaware of the changes. Consequently, the court concluded that the presumption of Vera’s knowledge and approval of the alterations had not been upheld. The court ordered the will to be rectified by deleting the contested words and directed the executors to bring the original Grant of Probate into the Registry within seven days of the expiration of the time for an appeal from the order.

The final orders of the court included a rectification of the will by deleting specific words, the requirement for the executors to submit the original Grant of Probate to the Registry, and the placement of a copy of the order in the relevant file.