How to Future-Proof your Will and Estate

We’ve all heard the saying ‘Where’s there’s a Will… I want to be in it’, or how about, ‘where’s there’s a Will… there’s a relative’.

It’s an emotionally charged time when someone passes on, and it is those strong emotions, and often a sense of possessiveness over the deceased, their money, or being the one who grieves the most, which can bring out the worst in people, and make an already bad situation so much worse.

Why Wills get Contested

The bottom line is, that a Will may get challenged when someone feels aggrieved by the contents of the Will. Oftentimes this is fuelled by greed or resentment.

But at other times the Will can be challenged where the Will maker has not done the right thing by someone and has failed to provide for them when they should have, or the Will is not valid.

Grounds to challenge a Will

1. Lack of Testamentary Capacity and Lack of Intention

Where the Will-maker had a lack of capacity, say from dementia or deficiency of mind, any Will that they try to make can be overturned.

Likewise, if the ‘Will-maker’ signed a document that they did not intend to be a Will, even though it may look like a Will in some respects, can be overturned.

2. Duress

If someone is forced to sign a Will, that Will shall not be said to be valid, because it wasn’t the signatory’s real Will.

3. Failure to provide

This is the most common ground for the challenge to a Will. The claimant does not need to prove that the Will is invalid for any reason, just that the testator failed to provide for them, when they had a duty to do so, namely that they were dependent on the deceased.

Can we leave our money to whomever we decide?

At a very basic level we can leave our money to anyone, at least at a Common law level. But then the government stepped in after too many people were leaving their family destitute by leaving all their money to a mistress or only the male heir or perhaps even the Lost Dogs Home out of spite (not to say that leaving to charity is not a worthwhile cause.) The government had the idea, and rightly so, that it really was for the individual to provide for their own family, rather than the State having to shoulder this burden, and put a few restraints in place.

Disclaimer:

The aforesaid is not legal advice and is only general in nature. Please obtain advice specific to your own circumstances, alternatively get in touch with the writer at http://hazelegal.com.au Please note that we do not endorse any of the services mentioned in this article, they merely serve as an example.