Dallimore v Peter Robin Dallimore as executor of the will of David De Clifford Dallimore

An assessment of a claimant's 'needs' under s 6(1) of the Family Provision Act 1972 (WA) is not to be approached mechanically by focusing on the claimant's cash flow at the date of the testator's death; what is 'adequate' must be relative to the claimant's own capacity and resources. Complaints about the weight given to relevant considerations in the evaluative exercise do not give rise to appellable error unless the failure amounts to a failure to undertake the statutory task. Statements of testamentary intent made many years before death, which are not promissory and did not engender a reasonable expectation upon which the claimant based their life, may properly be treated as of no practical consequence to the outcome.