Family Lawyer Sydney: Challenging a Will

Somebody close to you has recently passed and just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, their last will and testament seems to have all but ignored you while favoring someone who has only come into the life of the deceased recently. At this point, the alarm bells in your head will probably be going off. The best move in such a situation is to consider contesting the will.


Many people contest wills if they believe that the provisions of the original will were unfair to them. However, not just anyone can contest a last will and testament. To do this, you have to be in one of the following groups:

• A child
• A spouse (current or former)
• Someone who had a close personal relationship with deceased at the time of their passing
• A grandchild who was partly or completely dependent on the deceased at some point
• A dependant who was a member of the same household

You will also need to establish whether you’re merely stating that the allocation of property in will was unfair i.e. making a family provision claim or whether you’re stating that the will may be fraudulent or was written under less than ideal conditions. In the latter case, you’ll be looking to invalidate the will completely and this will different consequences.

The best move if you’re thinking about contesting a will is to hire a family lawyer Sydney as quickly as possible so you can get on top of the situation early.

Sydney Family Lawyer: Grounds for Contesting a Will


There are specific situations where you may have proper grounds for contesting a last will and testament. If you’re making family provision claim, you’re simply stating that the wealth was distributed unfairly. However, there are times when you may want the whole will done away with completely. This includes situations such as:

• You believe the deceased wasn’t in the right mental state to write their will
• You believe the deceased was unduly influenced by another party when writing the will
• You believe the will was a forgery and wasn’t, in fact, written by the deceased

Many family lawyer Sydney practices have taken on a number of cases of this nature and sometimes the outcome is quite surprising.

Unlike making a family provision claim, it can be quite challenging to prove that a will should be invalidated. If you claim that the deceased wasn’t in the right mental state, you’ll have to show proof that backs this claim. The same also applies to the other two cases.


Finding proof of undue influence or mental incapacity can be quite difficult and sometimes you’ll have nothing more to go on than the deceased pattern of behaviour around the time of their passing. To ensure that you have strong case when you go to court, make sure you hire an experience Sydney family lawyer with a history of handling such cases. Practices such as Edwards Family Lawyers have what it takes to ensure you’re properly represented when you show up to court.