Szabo & Associates News & Updates

A dispute over a Will can occur for many reasons, possibly unrelated to a challenge over the validity of the Will itself or a contest about the entitlement or adequacy of provision for a family member. Disputes may, for example, result from uncertainty over what a Will means or even how key individuals carry out their duties.

Will disputes often arise over when and how a deceased's estate is to be divided. Below we explore some of the types of disputes that arise and how they might be resolved.

A Will is a legal and binding document about what should happen to a person’s property after their death. Within a Will, the Will-maker (testator) can specifically devise or leave a gift to someone. A specific devise is a gift of personal property that is described in the Will.

Generally speaking, for a Will to be accepted as legally valid, it unsurprisingly requires that the legal formalities of the relevant jurisdiction are wholly adhered to. Nevertheless, sometimes a Will that does not meet these requirements, referred to as an 'informal Will', can be accepted as valid.

The recent case of Middleton v Schofield (2022) NSWSC 1454 demonstrates the importance, once again, of being precise in a Will if disputes are to be avoided. This issue was primarily about the use of extrinsic information to interpret the meaning of a Will. Was the reference to a real property called ‘Caringa’ one property or three contiguous properties customarily known as Caringa?