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Disputes taking place over the deceased individual’s estate will be pretty disastrous for the family. Many deceased estate lawyers have stated that these types of disputes can cause a bitter and long legal battle, which can divide the families and depletes the estate.
Apart from that, there are countless reasons why many people challenge an existing Will. Let’s find out from this writing.
A qualified individual has the power to challenge a will on Australian soil. An individual’s eligibility gets established through succession legislation from every jurisdiction. So, the person who becomes qualified to challenge the Will depends heavily on their location.
But there are several shared eligibility principles. Consult with an deceased estate lawyer in Perth to know the eligibility criterion. But the de facto spouses and partners and the dependent children have the right to challenge the deceased individual’s Will.
Other categories are based completely on the characteristics of dependence or kinship. One must consult such matters with their estate and wills lawyer in Perth to gain more information on it and how to contest/challenge a particular Will.
Even though there are countless reasons to challenge a particular Will, in this section, you will learn about some of them:
When a person has a dynamic family, it clearly means that their Will certainly gets challenged. The children of the testator have a long history of rivalry among the siblings, and a deceased estate is one of the primary reasons behind this particular tension.
The blend of long-standing resentments and grief can lead to court battles. The best way to prevent such situations from occurring is when the testator leaves a fair distribution to all the children. Here, the word “fair” doesn’t mean “equal.”
Instead of that, it should reflect the monetary requirements of all the children. During such events, it’s vital to appoint a skilled executor who will manage the estate administration work.
A professional executor or a family friend can become an executor to mediate the rivalry between the siblings or heirs while he/she follows the deceased individual’s wishes.
When the testator provides a specific family member with an early inheritance, the Will might get challenged. It’s normal for all the aging parents out there who offer monetary assistance to their adult children to begin a business or purchase their first home.
When parents offer a monetary gift to one child but not to the other children, this leads to animosity when the assets of the deceased person get distributed.
The best way to address such situations is by creating a Will, which mentions all the early inheritance and then adjusts the entire assessment. That way, it will help in conducting a fair distribution between the children.
For a decade, all the insurance advertisements that aired on Australian television have mentioned the “free legal Will kit”. This has made many Australians believe that it’s pretty simple and safe to create a Will by themselves.
But these unwary “Do-it-Yourself” Wills are filled with many traps. But the mistakes/errors a person made in their Will cannot become apparent until they pass away, and it will become pretty late to fix all those mistakes.
The lawyers who deal with unfair wills have stated that these DIY Wills are the primary cause of all the increasing estate-related lawsuits in Perth. But things will become a lot worse due to the increase of online Wills.
Monetary stress has always been one of the main reasons to challenge a will for all the family members of a deceased person.
The increase in mortgage repayments, house prices, and inflation are also some of the reasons that caused monetary pressure. When people become desperate, they start to do desperate things, and the free money available in the deceased estate makes it a target for many people.
The online platform has enabled people to gain access to plenty of information. One gets to stay well-informed about their entitlements and rights.
Due to such reasons, people, especially the younger generation, are aware of the availability of all the remedies like the “Family Provision Claims”. This is something the previous generation in Australia might not be aware of.
On one side, it stands out as an excellent thing that people are staying informed about their rights. But from the other side, a burst of lawsuits related to the deceased estates is a good quality for today’s modern world.
There are countless people out there who create a Will after getting married, and after that, they completely forget about it. With each day passing, the life situations of a person change; people come and go out of a person’s life, and even the laws get to see multiple changes.
Depending on a Will, which is over 5 to 7 years old during the date of one’s death, will increase the chances of the Will getting contested or challenged.
Even the court will conclude that Wills that are not updated will not be considered an accurate document that reflects the deceased individual’s testamentary intentions.
This will enable the surviving family members and other beneficiaries to challenge the Will. To prevent such issues from occurring, one must keep their Will well-updated.
Individuals who challenge a particular Will must show that the will-maker had a responsibility to offer them in the Will. This gets established through kinship, where the claimant is the testator’s child or spouse or dependent.
The testator will not just have a responsibility to provide for the claimant but also make all the correct provisions given to the monetary needs of the claimant and the estate’s size. An example can help one understand this perfectly:
“When the testator or will-maker leaves behind a sizable estate but only made minimal inheritance to the dependent child, that child has the right to challenge the Will.”
If a beneficiary felt left alone in the well then for the sake of his right, he must challenge unfair will with the help of proper legal assistance. A dispute among family members over a deceased estate is a common situation that occurs in many families. But these types of events can affect the relationship of the family members and long court battles.
A Will is contested when the testator utilizes a “DIY Will,” financial pressure, and various other things. So, before one gets to make a Will, he/she should speak with the will and estate lawyers. They can certainly offer some valuable advice on such matters.