Making Sense of Costs in Estate Litigation

The courts are increasingly warning practitioners of the need to consider proportionality in estate litigation and their duty to clients before and during dispute initiation and management. This session will examine how costs have become a highly significant consideration in estate litigation not only for litigants but also personally for practitioners, including:

• Who bears the costs in estate litigation?
• Are the courts bound to follow the costs rules?
• Judicial discretion in costs – what do the courts look at?
• Unpacking the proportionality principle: Olsen v Olsen [2019] NSWSC 217; Harris v Harris [2018] NSWCA 334
• Lessons for executors behaving badly: Hodge v de Pasquale [2014] VSC 413
• What does a practitioner need to tell a client about the risks and costs of litigation?
• When will a practitioner be personally liable for costs?
• Lessons in assessing reasonability and reality in the face of client pressure
• When is it time to settle?
• Recent cases including The Estate of Milan Zlatevski; Geroska v Zlatevski (No 2) [2020] NSWSC 388; Re Veca [2015] VSC 74; In the estate of Amuso (No 2) [2021] SASC 61; Re Howden; Howden v Rackshaw [2020] VSC 315; Trinder v Ciniglioi [2020] QSC 176