WILLS

Things that you may not have known about wills in South Australia:

• A person under the age of 18 years cannot make a will unless he or she is or has been married, or is making a will in contemplation of marriage.
• In other cases, subject to certain Wills Act requirements, a person under 18 can make a will by special permission of the Supreme Court subject to such conditions as the Court may impose.
• The same applies to persons lacking testamentary capacity, whether arising from mental or physical causes.

• The validity of a will is dependent on the observance of certain formalities as to signature and witnessing.
• In cases where those formalities have not been observed, the Supreme Court can admit a document to probate as a valid will if the Court is satisfied that the document in question expresses the testamentary intentions of the deceased.

• A person is not disqualified from taking a benefit under a will simply because that person or his or her spouse witnessed the will.

• Marriage after the making of a will automatically revokes that will, unless the will was specifically made in the contemplation of the particular marriage.
• Divorce after making a will automatically revokes any gift in that will to the former spouse and also revokes any appointment of the former spouse as executor.

• No alteration to a will is valid unless made according to the formalities necessary for a valid will.

• If the Supreme Court is satisfied that a will does not accurately reflect a deceased’s testamentary intentions, it can "rectify" or correct the will to give proper expression to those intentions.