The Court ordered both parties' costs to be paid from the estate on a standard basis where proceedings seeking to pass over an executor were incorrectly commenced through the Civil Registry rather than the Testamentary Causes Jurisdiction in the Probate Registry. The Court emphasised that applications to pass over executors must be commenced under r 354.11 of the Uniform Civil Rules 2020 via the Probate Registry, and that applications to produce a testamentary document must follow r 353.3. Despite the proceedings being fundamentally incorrectly commenced, the Court exercised its discretion to allow estate-funded costs given the six-year delay in administration and the sensible resolution ultimately achieved, though the applicant was denied reimbursement of the Civil Registry filing fee.
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