Szabo & Associates News & Updates

A team of solicitors working for the estate of the deceased billionaire Michael Wright have challenged a decision to award a $25m inheritance to his teenage daughter.

It was recently highlighted in the Sydney Morning Herald, that it is incredibly difficult to design a Will that is completely free of the risk of being challenged. The article highlights the increasing number of people in Australia that are challenging a loved one's Will on the basis of a lack of adequate family provision, claiming that they have not been adequately provided for. Unfortunately many people, owing to the complexity of the law in this area, do not understand the rules concerning mounting a challenge to a Will on the basis of a 'lack of provision'.

When a person passes away, an individual or a number of individuals will be appointed in their Will to distribute their estate – these people are known as executors. From a practical point of view, only one or two people should be named as executors in a Will.

We're not referring to the internal conflict Gillian Flynn may be going through while she rewrites Hamlet as part of the Hogarth Shakespeare project. No, here we're looking at the New South Wales Supreme Court's judgment earlier this year (19th May 2014) on the conflict between upholding the wishes of the deceased and the rights of the family left behind under the Succession Act 2006 (NSW).

Last week we published the first blog in a two part series, which focuses on contesting a will in New South Wales. We explained that whilst actually contesting a will in Australia is not difficult, two recent NSW court decisions indicate that doing so successfully is much more so.