Estate Litigation and Will Dispute Lawyers

Yes you can.

If a person dies without a Will, they are deemed to have died intestate (meaning without a Will).

The estate is then administered/distributed in accordance with the strict intestacy rules in Queensland.

What most people fail to realise is that if a person passes away without a valid Will, their entire estate does not automatically pass onto their spouse. Instead, the Spouse will receive the first $150,000, household chattels and a share in the residual estate depending on the number of children of the deceased.

What are Family Provision Applications?

Even though the law recognises a person’s right to choose who will inherit their estate, there are often reasonable circumstances why a person should contest a Will.

If you have been left out of a Will, or have not been properly provided for in the Will and you think that you should have been provided for, you may be able to claim a share of the estate. Similarly if someone is trying to make a claim on an estate that has been left to you, Turner Freeman Lawyers can advise and represent you in defending the estate by upholding the Will of the deceased.

Those people who are defined as eligible persons under Section 41 of the Succession Act 1981 (QLD) may make an application to the court for a family provision order to adjust the interests that are created by a Will. These include:

• The deceased person’s spouse, including wife/husband/de facto partner;
• A child, including any stepchild or adopted child of the deceased;
• Dependants who were wholly or substantially maintained or supported by the deceased;
• A person who was at the time partly or wholly dependent on the deceased.

You will need a specialist Will Dispute lawyer if:

• If you are concerned that you have unfairly been left out of a Will or have not received your fair share from a Will,
• want to find out where you stand and if your claim is worthwhile to pursue,

From our experience seeing firsthand the bad outcomes that people achieve without lawyers, the answer is absolutely yes.

How can a will dispute lawyer help me with contesting, challenging or defending the Will?

A specialist will dispute lawyer can advise you the most effective way to contest, challenge or defend a Will. Our specialist lawyers will be able to advise you whether you can make a claim on the estate, how long this process might take and potentially how much you might be able to receive.

Why choose us?

• We provide ‘No Win No Fee‘ for will dispute claims
• We can come to you if you are too ill to visit us
• Your first meeting with us is obligation free – you do not have to retain us

Time limits in Queensland

• Notice should be given within 6 months of date of death to the Executor/s
• 9 months from date of death to file the application

If you intend to challenge the Will, a Family Provision Application notice to apply for further provision from the estate must be given to the Executor of the Estate within 6 months from the deceased’s date of death.

After 6 months of the deceased’s death, if the Executor has no notice of a claim, he/she can distribute the estate.

Therefore, although this notice is not fatal to a claim, you run the risk that there are no assets left in the estate to claim against.

Within 9 months of the deceased’s date of death you must then file your Application and supporting affidavit setting out your claim in the Court and serve it on the Executor/s.

To contest the validity of a Will an application should be made before a Grant of Probate has been issued from the Supreme Court, or if no Grant of Probate has been applied for within 6 months of the deceased’s date of death.

It can be extremely difficult to progress your claim if a time limit has expired. If you are out of time, you would need to obtain leave of the court to allow you to bring your application. You must have very good reasons to explain your delay.

Be sure to get legal advice as soon as possible.

How much will I get if I contest the Will?

As every claim is different, it is difficult to estimate how much you will receive from the estate until we have your full instructions.

After you have provided our Wills and Estates Department with your full instructions, Turner Freeman Lawyers have the expertise from their experience in estate litigation to provide you with a realistic range of what we think your claim is worth.

In making our assessment, Turner Freeman Lawyers will consider the following factors:

• The size of the deceased estate;
• The nature of your relationship with the deceased compared with the nature of the other beneficiaries relationship with the deceased;
• Your financial needs compared with the financial needs of the other beneficiaries of the estate;
• Your state of health compared with the state of health of the other beneficiaries of the estate; and

Any contributions you made to the deceased estate or the deceased made for you during their lifetime.

Generally speaking, most claims are able to be resolved within 6 to 18 months from when the claim starts. If the case goes to trial (which is highly unlikely) this can add a further 6 to 12 months to the time estimate.

No Win, No Fee policy

For Will disputes, estate litigation and if you are challenging or contesting a Will, we offer No Win No Fee.

After we have investigated your claim at no obligation to you, we will then make a decision about whether we would be prepared to act for you on a No Win, No Fee basis. At that time, we will provide you with a proper written advice regarding your prospects of success and whether we are prepared to act for you on a No Win, No Fee basis.

Under our usual terms and conditions, No Win, No Fee simply means that we if take your case on, we will only be paid a reasonable fee for the legal work we have done for you at the end of the claim, and only if you win.