The Court held that in statutory will proceedings commenced by originating motion, particular discovery under r 29.08 of the Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2025 is available but requires both relevance to an issue in the proceeding and demonstration of special circumstances, with the inquisitorial character of such proceedings under s 22 of the Wills Act 1997 making it more difficult for a party to insist on discovery from an opponent than in ordinary adversarial litigation. On the facts, discovery was ordered only in respect of two solicitor file notes of conferences with the incapacitated person (as potentially relevant to expressions of testamentary wishes and capacity), while production of bank statements, medical report cover communications, and other solicitor file materials was refused as speculative or irrelevant. The Court left open whether s 22 of the Wills Act provides a free-standing basis for ordering production of documents independent of the Rules.
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