Yesilhat v Calokerinos [2021] NSWCA 110

Court of Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Yesilhat v Calokerinos [2021] NSWCA 110 Hearing dates: 12 April 2021; 13 April 2021 Date of orders: 28 May 2021 Decision date: 28 May 2021 Before: Bathurst CJ at [1]; Macfarlan JA at [2]; Brereton JA at [123] Decision: (1) Dismiss the Amended Notice of Motion filed on behalf of Ms Calokerinos on 11 December 2020, with costs. (2) Dismiss the appeal with costs. Catchwords: SUCCESSION – family provision – claim by alleged long-term partner of deceased – whether alleged partner an "eligible person" – whether de facto relationship, close personal relationship or dependent household member relationship – Succession Act ss 57(1)(b), (e), and (f) – requirement of "living" together and need for some common residence APPEALS – from findings of fact – findings likely affected by impressions about credibility and reliability of witnesses – whether findings "glaringly improbable" – Fox v Percy test Legislation Cited: Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW), s 21C Property (Relationships) Act 1984 (NSW), s 4 Succession Act 2006 (NSW), ss 3, 57, 59 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules (NSW), r 51.41 Cases Cited: Bedford, In the Marriage of (1977) 29 FLR 332; (1977) FLC ¶90-287 Benney v Jones (1991) 23 NSWLR 559 Benney v Jones (Supreme Court (NSW), Young J, 13 February 1990, unrep) FO v HAF [2007] 2 Qd R 138; [2006] QCA 555 Fox v Percy (2003) 214 CLR 118; [2003] HCA 22 Hayes v Marquis [2008] DFC ¶95-415; [2008] NSWCA 10 Heydon v The Perpetual Executors, Trustees and Agency Company (W.A.) Limited (1930) 45 CLR 111; [1930] HCA 26 House v The King (1936) 55 CLR 499; [1936] HCA 40 Jonah & White (2011) 258 FLR 236; [2011] FamCA 221 Kingsland v McIndoe [1989] VR 273 Lee v Lee (2019) 266 CLR 129; [2019] HCA 28 Light v Anderson [1992] DFC ¶95-102; NSWCA 136 Marning v Staniforth (Supreme Court (NSW), Hodgson J, 25 March 1987, unrep) Moby & Schulter (2010) FLC ¶93-447; [2010] FamCA 748 Moloney v Goodwin (Supreme Court (NSW), Needham J, 1 August 1989, unrep) Munro v Lake (Supreme Court (NSW), McLelland J, 8 February 1991, unrep) NSW Trustee and Guardian v McGrath [2013] NSWSC 1894 Petersen v Gregory [2007] NSWSC 8 Piras v Egan [2008] NSWCA 59 Purnell v Tindale [2020] NSWSC 746 Roy v Sturgeon (1986) 11 NSWLR 454 Sharpless v McKibbin [2007] NSWSC 1498 Simonis v Perpetual Trustee Co Ltd (1987) 21 NSWLR 677 Smoje v Forrester [2017] NSWCA 308 Spata v Tumino (2018) 95 NSWLR 706; [2018] NSWCA 17 Spata v Tumino [2017] NSWSC 111 Vaughan v Hoskovich [2010] NSWSC 706 Weston v Public Trustee (1986) 4 NSWLR 407 White v Redding (2019) 99 NSWLR 605; [2019] NSWCA 152 Yesilhat v Calokerinos [2015] NSWSC 1028 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Okan Yesilhat (Appellant) Cleopatra Sclavos Calokerinos as Executor of the Estate of the late George Sclavos (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: V Culkoff (Appellant) M Evans / V Chan (Respondent)