Northern beaches lawyer offers advice on Wills, probate and contested Wills

1. CAN AN UNSIGNED DOCUMENT, TITLED AS A WILL, BE THE LAST WILL OF A PERSON?
2. YES.

The Court can admit a document to probate notwithstanding that it has not been executed in accordance with the requirements of the Succession Act. 

Two matters must be established in relation to the “document” sought to be the subject of a grant of probate:

1. It must purport to state the testamentary intentions of the deceased
2. The Court must be satisfied that the person intended that the document form his or her will

The Court has held that “there is… a distinction between a document which merely sets out what a person wishes or intends as to the way his property shall pass on his death and a document which, setting out those things, is intended to cause that to come about, that is, to operate as his will”

“Where, however, the subject document was not seen, or read, or written, or in some way authenticated, or adopted, by the relevant deceased, or where the subject document, even if seen, or read, by the relevant deceased, was, in truth, no more than “instructions”, or a “note of instructions”, for a will” it would be very difficult to satisfy a Judge that it was intended by the relevant deceased that the subject document was intended to be his will.

If you need advice on making and executing Wills or on proving a document is the last Will of a deceased or a contested Will, contact Pittwater Family Lawyers, a firm on the northern beaches of Sydney which offers home and office visits to anywhere in metropolitan Sydney and via Zoom to areas outside metropolitan Sydney. Telephone Kathy Chase on (02) 9918656 or 0418 285 207 or send an email to: pittwaterfamilylawyers@gmail.com

http://www.pittwaterfamilylawyers.coma.u