You would think they just read this web site? The courts don’t reflect community expectations. What do you think? ______________________________________________ Having the Last Word? Will making and contestation in Australia. The University of Queensland. Recommendations
13. There is evidence that competent and financially comfortable
adults are making successful family provision claims as are extended
family. These findings raise questions about the need for legislative
reform as well as consideration of the norms, principles and legal 14. A sense of entitlement from adult children as beneficiaries, regardless of need and testator’s intentions, should be broadly challenged in community education, legal education and in practice processes. The intentions of family provision legislation should be more widely understood and supported. 15. Facilitators of contestation such as the high rate of success (both before the courts and in mediated agreements), community attitudes and legal culture that, in some circumstances, encourages contestation require further systematic investigation. 16. Community and legal education (including continuing professional development for lawyers) is needed to address cultural concerns. State and Territory Governments should also review their succession law, and in particular their family provision legislation, to ensure that the appropriate balance is struck between testamentary freedom and the duty to provide for family. Recent
legislative changes in Victoria around family provision to tighten
eligibility to be a claimant and to give greater weight to demonstrating
dependency on the testator at the time of their death have been noted.
There is also a renewed focus on regard for testamentary freedom. |
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