Written by In the significant probate ruling Estate of Mimi Milka Jaksic (Berger) [2025] NSWSC 253, the Supreme Court of New South Wales has granted probate of a copy of Mimi Milka Jaksic Berger’s 2015 will, together with an unwitnessed 2022 codicil, reviving the earlier instrument and rejecting an intestacy claim by a competing relative.
The late Ms Jaksic, a Sydney-based artist with a $24 million estate, died childless and unmarried in November 2022. While her original 2015 will could not be located, a copy confirmed that she left the residue of her estate to her niece and grandnephew, Bozica and Dusko Dundjerski. In 2022, she signed a codicil gifting a specific Surry Hills property to close friends, the Jankovics, while confirming the remainder of her will. Branka Jaksic-Repac, a niece of the deceased, argued that the original will had been revoked and that Mimi died intestate. However, Hammerschlag CJ in Eq rejected this, holding that the presumption of revocation was either inapplicable or rebutted. There was no evidence that the deceased destroyed the will, and multiple witnesses corroborated that she regarded it as operative until her death.
The codicil, though not formally executed, was found to satisfy s 8 of the Succession Act 2006 (NSW). It clearly expressed Mimi’s testamentary intention, referenced her will held by solicitor Marc O’Brien, and was signed in contemplation of future formalisation. The Court also found that her reluctance to have the codicil witnessed was driven by a mistrust of hospital staff, rather than absence of testamentary intent. Justice Hammerschlag granted probate in solemn form of the copy will and codicil to Dusko Dundjerski, confirming that both documents together reflected the deceased’s final wishes.