The Court granted preliminary discovery under UCPR r 5.3(1) of a solicitor's will file in the context of prospective probate proceedings, holding that the applicant lacked sufficient information to decide whether to commence a claim to revoke a grant of probate and propound an earlier will. The Court rejected the argument that preliminary discovery is inappropriate or 'novel' in the probate context, holding that r 5.3 applies to all litigation including probate and that Practice Note SC Eq 7 does not preclude pre-commencement discovery, particularly where the documents sought (solicitor's will file) are of a kind typically produced early in probate cases. The Court left open whether there might be particular discretionary considerations unique to probate preliminary discovery applications but found none were articulated in this case.
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