In Australia, the laws about your final will and testament are set at multiple levels of the government. There are state laws as well as national laws. Many of them are compatible and lead towards the same conclusions. Your will is a legally binding document; therefore, it must be written in a way that is legally-sound. Also, it must cover certain areas and certain people. You are allowed to leave items to pretty much anyone, but there are some restrictions and requirements. You will have to take care of certain people.
Requirements for a Will
If someone is dependent on you, you cannot completely exclude them from your will. In some rare cases, this is done because of malice. Malicious intent is definitely not a valid reason to exclude a dependent from a will. Since that dependent would then be unsupported, you are not allowed to withdraw your support from someone who needs it. More commonly, this is done simply because people forget to update their wills. For example, if you have a child but don’t update your will, that child might be left out.
Though there would be no malicious intent there, someone in your family would still need contesting a will lawyers. These lawyers are necessary, even for amicable contests. Since the will is a legally-binding document, you will need a legal expert to deal with the fallout of contesting a will. There are many different elements of the will that might be contested on the grounds that it is not properly written. You can also contest a will on the grounds of when or how it was written.
How it Was Written
As a legally-binding document, a final will and testament is a lot like a contract. If you are not found legally competent to sign a contract, you are likely not legally competent to write a will. You have to be of sound mind and body to write a will; if you write it without the presence of an attorney, it is likely not a valid will. Alternately, if it was written in the presence of a lawyer the family does not trust, it can still be contested.
Contesting a will on the grounds of how it was written is a little bit more difficult than contesting it based on the merits. Contesting it based on the contents of the will is more straightforward since you can look at the actual contents. Disputing the way in which it was written is slightly more difficult, but a good attorney will be able to help you.
Finding a Lawyer
When you are looking for a lawyer to help you, you should look for one that works for a firm small enough to be responsive to your needs. However, the firm should be big enough to do advanced research for your case. A lot of the law depends on finding precedents for different cases, which means a firm needs enough employees to do great research in your defence. You’ll be able to contest the will with the help of a great attorney.
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