I would like to challenge my late ex-husbands Will
I don’t believe he adequately provided for my son who is now 16 (he was 14 when his father passed). The bulk of the estate went to his current wife – is it too late to contest the Will?
It is not too late to contest your ex-husband’s Will on behalf of your son who is under the age of 18. Under the Succession Ac,t (“the Act”) an eligible person is able to make a family provision application if they believe that they have not been adequately provided for in a Will.
Your son is an eligible person under the Act as he is a child of the deceased.
The main issue that you will need to overcome is that, the application will be made outside of the time period stipulated in the Act. The Act states that an application for a family provision order must be made no later than 12 months after the date of death of the deceased. This means that your son’s application will be 12 months outside the time period and you will need to provide the court with reasons for the delay in making the application. If the Court believes that sufficient cause has been shown, they will allow a family provision application outside of the 12 month period.
The Northern Beaches Lawyer has successfully made family provision claims outside of the 12 month limit and has experience in gathering and filing evidence in the Court that shows sufficient cause for the family provision application to proceed.
To ensure that your son is adequately provided for under his father’s Will, you need to speak to the Northern Beaches Lawyer. We will go through the circumstances surrounding the delay in making the application, so that we can present the strongest case possible to the Court to allow the family provision application to proceed.
The most important thing to do now is to make sure that there is no further delay in making the family provision application. Further delay may result in the father’s current wife retaining the bulk of the Estate.
You need to act quickly and decisively to ensure that your son receives a distribution from his father’s Estate to provide for his maintenance, education or advancement in life.
Graeme Heckenberg is an expert litigation lawyer and will be able to guide you in the process and represent your case in the Supreme Court close to his Sydney city office. If you are living on the Northern Beaches and surrounding Peninsula and need expert advice in a Will dispute or Estate matter call for a consultation.
Call today for a an appointment closer to home on 9221 0341
Northern Beaches Lawyers – City Experience by the Beach
