Williment v Waters

[2026] NSWCA 37

NSW Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE — costs — security for costs — appeal — relevant factors — need for special circumstances — impecuniosity — where appellant has strong ties to the United Kingdom and the expectation of inheritance — whether appellant has established that an order for security will stultify proceedings — relevance of disparity between limited role played by appellant in the Court below and ambit of the appeal

Quick Take

The Court ordered security for costs of $100,000 against the appellant, finding special circumstances established by the significant disparity between the appellant's deliberately circumscribed role at trial (confining submissions to undue influence only and not propounding any will) and the comprehensive scope of her appeal challenging all material findings. The Court also treated as relevant the appellant's inclusion of an appeal ground (challenging the 2009 will) in which she had no conceivable financial interest, the poor prospects of overturning fact-intensive findings on testamentary capacity, suspicious circumstances and undue influence, and the appellant's failure to discharge her onus of establishing that a security order would stultify the appeal, particularly where she chose not to give evidence of her financial circumstances despite being available to do so.