Contested Wills

There are 2 main ways in which a Will can be contested.

 

The first is on the basis that an insufficient amount of the Estate was left for you.  There are limited people who may contest the Will on this basis, namely:

• a spouse or de facto
• a person receiving or entitled to receive maintenance from the Deceased
• a child of the deceased
• a grandchild of the deceased:
  • who was being maintained wholly or partly by the deceased immediately before the deceased’s death; or
  • who, at the date of the deceased’s death, was living and one of whose parents was a child of the deceased who had predeceased the deceased; or
  • who was born within 10 months after the deceased’s death and one of whose parents was a child of the deceased who had predeceased the deceased;
• a stepchild of the deceased who was being maintained by the deceased immediately before the deceased’s death;
• a stepchild of the deceased, if
  • the deceased received or was entitled to receive property from the estate of a parent of the stepchild, otherwise than as a creditor of that estate; and
  • the value of that property, at the time of the parent’s death, is greater than the prescribed amount.

The second way in which a Will can be contested is to say that the person who made the Will did not have sufficient legal capacity (perhaps they had dementia) when they made their Will or someone had improper influence over the Will-maker’s mind.

There are time limits which apply and this can be as short as six months from the Grant of Probate, so any person aggrieved by the provisions of a Will needs to act quickly.