Keep The Pressure On

So what does this mean?

Firstly its good that something in happening, but remember the legal profession has been

"investigating" this nationally for 15 years and almost nothing has happened.

John Rau has asked the Law Society's Probate Committee to review the laws which is great.

My concern is

" The Law Society's principal mission is to represent its members and the legal profession in general."

Does this mean they are qualified to develop policy for the government that reflect community values ?

Another good thing that is happening, although not mentioned in the letter? is that John Rau recently re-started

the South Australian Law Reform Commission and one of its first tasks is to look at will law. Hopefully it wont use

NSW Succession ACT as a guide for reform, the NSW family provision Act as this is a complete debacle.

Hopefully they will use the THE SCOTTISH LAW COMMISSION method and use research into public views

as a basis for reform. This was not done in NSW and the situation got worse (more lawyers law) to the point

where the Supreme Court has made mediation mandatory in an attempt to reduce costs ( not improve justice).

So in short unless we continue to send Mr Rau letters outlining our concerns the process for change will stall

and we can look forward to decades more of injustice.

I encourage you to write to the Attorney-General in support of changes to make the law restrict valid claimant

to:

Partner of the deceased, a dependent of the deceased, non-adult child or a child that

significantly contributed to the wealth or support of the deceased.

If you are not in SA you should be telling your local MP the same things. Ideally we should have uniform

national laws, as its a bit of a joke that each state a territory has a different law of wills.

If you are in SA I encourage you to contact your local member or John Rau MP and tell them that you want change

to the Family Provision Act. If you don't no one will.

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Below is the letter from John Rau (Attorney-General)

Deputy Premier Attorney-General The Hon John Rau MP 3o March,2011 Miss Chloë Fox M.P. Government Member for Bright of South Australia 7 Sturt Road Deputy Premier BRIGHTON S.A. 5048 Attorney-General Minister for Justice Minister for Urban Development, Planning and the City of Adelaide

Minister for Tourism

Minister for Food Marketing

45 Pine Street

Adelaide SA 5000 GPO Box 464

Adelaide SA 5001

DX336

Tel 0882071723

Fax 0882071736

attorney-general@agd.sa.gov.au

Dear Chloe I write in response to your further letter on behalf of your constituent Mr Anastasi about the Family Provisions Act 1972 (the Act). I understand that Mr Anastasi objects to the way that the current law is being interpreted and that he supports reform of the Act. You may wish to let Mr Anastasi know that I recently asked the Law Society's Probate Committee to review the laws and provide me with their views about what, if any, provisions of the Uniform Succession Laws may be appropriately incorporated into South Australian law. I will endeavour to keep you informed about the progress of this matter and I apologise for the delay in providing this response. Yours sincerely

John Rau Deputy Premier Attorney-General