SA Is The Will Legal?

[petermark]

This is in SA. This will was signed by only a person, a JP.


The JP provided his name, JP number, the address of the place his signed, but he did not write down his home address. Is it a legal will?

 

[Victoria S]

In South Australia, for a will to be legal it must be

• in writing
• signed by the testator in the presence of two or more witnesses
• appear as though the testator intended to give effect to it by signing it
• signed by the witnesses who sign their names as witnesses to the will in the presence of the testator

If a will is not as per the above, the estate may be dealt with as if there were no will unless a court orders otherwise. Except for some cases where you are a sailor lost at sea or a member of the defence forces.

A court may still consider a will to be valid if its not witnessed property if they are satisfied the document expresses the testamentary intentions of the deceased, and can admit the document to probate. An application needs to be made to the court and can be quite expensive.

 

[petermark]

In South Australia, for a will to be legal it must be

• in writing
• signed by the testator in the presence of two or more witnesses
• appear as though the testator intended to give effect to it by signing it
• signed by the witnesses who sign their names as witnesses to the will in the presence of the testator

If a will is not as per the above, the estate may be dealt with as if there were no will unless a court orders otherwise. Except for some cases where you are a sailor lost at sea or a member of the defence forces.

A court may still consider a will to be valid if its not witnessed property if they are satisfied the document expresses the testamentary intentions of the deceased, and can admit the document to probate. An application needs to be made to the court and can be quite expensive.

I got the info online. I need a direct answer.

 

[Arche]

Unfortunately, no one except the court can give you a direct answer. As Victoria said, a will may not look to be valid, because it wasn't done according to the rules, but a person can apply to the court for it to be declared valid. The key point is whether the will expresses the testamentary intentions of the person who died.

There are few certainties in issues like this. There have been cases where there were no signatures of witnesses at all but, after hearings, Supreme Courts have granted probate of the unwitnessed wills.