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Is it legal?

A question we are sometimes asked about our Will Kit

"Is it legal?"

Yes yes - it's legal.

And yes yes - we had our design vetted by a solicitor years ago, so we can say it is "solicitor approved".

But are these really meaningful questions?

The answer is that they are nonsense questions that some people ask because of the claims of copycat will kit marketeers.

Here is why the questions are meaningless.

"Legal"

To say a Will Kit is "legal" is meaningless because there is no approvals system of any kind for wills or will kits.

A Will (including those in a Will Kit) merely has to include the information needed for it to be accepted as valid when the executor presents it to the Probate Office (following the death of the person who made the Will).

The right question is not, "Is the Kit legal?"

The right question is  will the Probate Office accept the Will as valid and "grant" probate to the executor named in the Will?

The Probate Office rarely rejects a Will. They might ask the executor to provide further information before they grant probate to the Executor, but they rarely refuse to accept a Will.

And even if the unthinkable happened and the Probate Office did reject a Will, your estate doesn't disappear into a black hole. What happens is that one of your next of kin then applies for "Letters of Administration" instead of Probate, and they wind up the estate as if they did have Probate. That is no big deal.

So all the "marketeer-speak" about a Will Kit being "legal" is just an attempt to frighten people who don't know better.

"Solicitor Approved"

"Solicitor approval" claims for Will Kits is just plain deception because:

• There is no approvals system for Will Kits - full stop!
• There is no approvals system for Wills themselves - full stop!
• Neither the government nor the lawyer societies authorise any solicitors to approve the design of Wills or Will Kits.

So we suggest you dismiss "solicitor approved" claims as deceptive advertising.

Our commercial world is full of marketeers trying to frighten others into buying products or services on the basis of phony benefits or claims - a sad commentary on the standards of both business and government.

Australia Wide?

Wills made anywhere in Australia have the same basic requirements, because willmaking law throughout Australia all derives from the English system.

Our Will Kit is very particular about the basic Will-making requirements (like identifying the will-maker, signing it the right way etc), and for that reason you can expect a Will made with our Will Kit to be accepted throughout Australia.

What happens if there is NO will varies around Australia though (which is why a committee has been working on "succession law reform" for about 15 years).

Probate application procedure varies throughout Australia too, but that affects how your executor USES your Will rather than the Will itself.

Probate Varies

Although a will made anywhere in Australia will be

Back to the Will Kit page

30 April 2010