Whole Act
51 provisions in continuous reading order
Loading the complete Act…
This Act may be cited as the Wills Act 1970.
This Act shall come into operation on a date to be fixed by proclamation.
[3. Omitted under the Reprints Act 1984 s. 7(4)(f).]
In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears —
country means any place or group of places having its own law of nationality, including the Commonwealth and its territories;
disposition includes a gift, devise, bequest or an appointment of property contained in a will; and
dispose of has a corresponding meaning;
internal law in relation to any country or place means the law that would apply in a case where no question of the law in force in any other country or place arose;
marriage has the meaning given to that term in the Marriage Act 1961 of the Commonwealth;
place means any territory including a State or Territory of the Commonwealth;
property includes real and personal property or any interest therein and any thing or chose in action;
will includes a codicil and any testamentary instrument or disposition.
[Section 4 amended: No. 27 of 2007 s. 4.]
This Act applies to the will of any person dying on or after the date of the coming into operation of this Act, whether the will was executed or made before, on or after that date but does not apply to the will of any person who died before that date.
A person may, by a will executed or made in a manner required or permitted by this Act —
dispose of property (whether acquired before or after the making of the will) to which at the time of the person’s death the person is entitled either at law or in equity; and
dispose of property that in exercise of a power of appointment the person is entitled or able to dispose of by will; and
appoint a guardian of any infant child of the person.
[Section 6 inserted: No. 27 of 2007 s. 5.]
Subject to section 17, a will made by a person under the age of 18 years is not valid.
[Section 7 amended: No. 27 of 2007 s. 6.]
Subject to sections 17 and 20 and Parts XA, X and XI, a will is not valid unless —
it is in writing; and
it is signed by the testator or signed in the testator’s name by some other person in the testator’s presence and by the testator’s direction, in such place on the will so that it is apparent on the face of the will that the testator intended to give effect by the signature to the writing signed as the testator’s will; and
the testator makes or acknowledges the signature in the presence of at least 2 witnesses present at the same time; and
the witnesses attest and subscribe the will in the presence of the testator but no publication or form of attestation is necessary.
[Section 8 amended: No. 69 of 1987 s. 4; No. 27 of 2007 s. 7; No. 47 of 2012 s. 4.]
If a power is conferred on a person to make an appointment by a will which power is to be executed in some particular manner or with some particular solemnity, the person may exercise the power by a will that is executed in a manner required or permitted by this Act, but is not executed in that particular manner or with that particular solemnity.
For the purposes of subsection (1), a document that is a will by operation of Part X is deemed to be executed in the manner required by section 8.
[Section 9 amended: No. 69 of 1987 s. 5; No. 27 of 2007 s. 8.]
In subsection (3) —
apparent means legible by the unaided eye or with the help of a magnifying lens but not otherwise.
Subject to Part X, an alteration to a will after it has been executed is not effective unless the alteration is executed in a manner in which a will is required or permitted to be executed by this Act.
Subsection (2) does not apply to an alteration to a will made by, or at the direction of, the testator if the words or effect of the will are no longer apparent because of the alteration.
If a will is altered, it is sufficient compliance with the requirements for execution if the signatures of the testator and of the witnesses to the alteration, or in the case of a will referred to in section 17 the signature of the testator, are or is made —
in the margin, or on some other part of the will beside, near or otherwise relating to the alteration; or
as authentication of a memorandum referring to the alteration and written on the will.
[Section 10 inserted: No. 27 of 2007 s. 9.]
A person who is unable to see and attest that a testator has signed a document cannot act as a witness to a will.
[Section 11 inserted: No. 27 of 2007 s. 10.]
[Part IV: s. 12 deleted: No. 27 of 2007 s. 11;
s. 13 deleted: No. 28 of 2003 s. 211(1) 1.]
A will is revoked by the marriage of the testator except where —
it is made in contemplation of the marriage; or
the will is made in exercise of a power of appointment where the property thereby appointed would not in default of appointment pass to the testator’s personal representatives as such.
A will made in contemplation of the marriage of the testator is void if the marriage is not solemnised, unless the will provides to the contrary.
For the purposes of this section, a will is made in contemplation of a marriage if —
it is expressed to be made in contemplation of the marriage; or
there is other evidence establishing that the will was made in contemplation of the marriage.
Subsection (3)(b) applies to the will of a person dying on or after the day on which section 12 of the Wills Amendment Act 2007 comes into operation, whether the will was executed or made before, on or after that day, and the will of a person who died before that day is to be construed as if that section had not come into operation.
[Section 14 amended: No. 27 of 2007 s. 12.]
In this section —
Family Court of Australia means the Family Court of Australia created by the Family Law Act;
Family Law Act means the Family Law Act 1975 of the Commonwealth.
A will is revoked by the ending of the testator’s marriage except where —
a contrary intention appears in the will; or
there is other evidence establishing such an intention.
For the purposes of subsection (2), a marriage ends —
when a divorce order terminating the marriage takes effect under the Family Law Act; or
on the granting of a decree of nullity in respect of the marriage by the Family Court of Australia or the Family Court of Western Australia; or
on the dissolution or annulment of the marriage in accordance with the law of a place outside Australia, but only if that dissolution or annulment is recognised in Australia under the Family Law Act.
Subsection (2) —
applies where a marriage ends on or after the day on which section 13 of the Wills Amendment Act 2007 comes into operation, whether the will was executed or made before, on or after that day; and
does not apply where a marriage ends before that day.
[Section 14A inserted: No. 27 of 2007 s. 13.]