Age of Majority Act 1973

Notwithstanding anything in section 3 or any amendment made by section 5 – the law in force immediately before the appointed day relating to testamentary capacity and to the form of wills continues to apply to a will made before the appointed day; the law in force immediately before the appointed day and relating to the revocation of wills continues to apply to a revocation made before that day; and a will or other testamentary disposition of a testator who died before the appointed day shall be construed as if this Act had not commenced.

Notwithstanding any rule of law, a will or codicil executed before the appointed day shall not be treated for the purposes of section 3 as made on or after that day by reason only that the will or codicil is confirmed by a codicil executed on or after that day.

Where a trustee is empowered or directed by the provisions of a will or other testamentary disposition executed or made before the appointed day by a testator who dies on or after that day to pay or apply income, or capital money, or any other capital asset for the maintenance, education, advancement, or benefit of a person, nothing in this Act has the effect of limiting that power or direction.

Where by an instrument executed or made before the appointed day or by an enactment in force immediately before that day a trustee is empowered or directed to pay income to the parent or guardian of a person, or to apply it for the maintenance, education, advancement, or benefit of a person, the trustee also has power to pay it to that person himself if that person has attained the age of 18 years.

Subject to section 7, except to the extent that section 3 operates so as to enable a person to give a receipt or a discharge for or in respect of, or to assign or otherwise dispose of, or to disclaim rights or property, all property as to which a person has died intestate before the appointed day shall be distributed in accordance with the enactments and rules of law that would have applied to it if this Act had not commenced.

Subject to section 8, any order or directions in force immediately before the appointed day in relation to the control of money recovered by or otherwise payable to a minor in any proceedings or as a result of the compromise or settlement of a claim for money or damages has effect as if a reference to the minor's attaining the age of 21 years or full age (however expressed) were a reference to his attaining the age of 18 years or, in the case of a person to whom section 3(1)(b) relates, to the appointed day.

Nothing in this Act affects any estate, right, or interest in real or personal property to which a person has become absolutely entitled, whether beneficially or otherwise, before the appointed day.

Nothing in this Act affects the liability of a person to pay alimony or maintenance under an order or agreement that is in force immediately before the appointed day.

Nothing in this Act or in any amendment made by section 5 affects the time for bringing proceedings in respect of a cause of action that arose before the appointed day.

Nothing in this Act affects the construction of an enactment where it is incorporated in, and has effect as part of, an instrument the construction of which is not affected by this Act.

Nothing in this Act affects – conditions of employment or rights or obligations arising from employment; or the construction of – an industrial award, order, or determination; or any instrument that is executed or entered into pursuant to an enactment and that prescribes or regulates wages or other conditions of, or relating to, apprenticeship.