On 19 August 2014 the Justice Legislation Amendment (Succession and Surrogacy) Bill 2014, was introduced into Victorian Parliament proposing to significantly change the laws relating to the challenge of an estate in Victoria.
The three significant changes were around:
• Limiting the class of people who can challenge an estate,
• A new definition of disability; and
• The ability to contract out of an estate challenge.
As opposed to other Australian states and territories where the legislation sets out a list of eligible persons who can make a claim, current Victorian legislation adopts a criteria based test. Concerns have been raised around the potentially broad application of this test, leading to non-genuine claims for the estate and incidences where large portions of a deceased’s estate are being eroded by legal fees over claims made for a share of the estate.
However, according to some commentators the proposed changes would remove the power from courts to deal with complex family dynamics in settling will disputes. Further, that the dependency element of the proposed ‘’eligible person’’ list infringes on the rights of the children of deceased people to contest a will.
Conclusion
This proposed significant change to the estate challenge laws in Victoria shines a spotlight on the importance of careful estate planning, with a focus on making provisions for the individuals you have a duty to provide for upon your passing. Please don’t hesitate to contact Havilah Legal for assistance in taking care of all your estate planning requirements.
