Wills and Estates

In some cases, it is relatively easy to resolve the ambiguity, for example where a gift in a will fails because the subject matter of the will has been sold before the will maker died. There are however other circumstances where gifts are ambiguous, and where the consequences can be quite significant. Under section 33C […]

I was recently asked by a client if it was OK to use the “home made” wills from newsagents, and that prompted me to think of the numerous times that I have read cases where people made a will without a lawyer, and there was costly litigation as a result. We have reported on those […]

It seems that a lot of lawyers could make a decent living if their only work was sorting out home-made will problems. Yet another one has played out in the Supreme Court. The Will maker was 13 years into a de facto relationship who he married shortly after making the Will. He had little contact […]