Wills and the Administration of Estates

Wills and the Administration of Estates
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Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Main content.........................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................8
References...........................................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
A significant change has been made to the Probate Act 1958 (Vic) (Act) and Part IV of the
Administration after The Justice Legislation Amendment Act 2014. However, amendments
are not getting the level which was initially proposed. A process was being governed since
July 1998, Part IV Administration and Probate Act 1958 for those people who were wishing
to issue a claim for Testator’s Family Maintenance, looking for provisions from a deceased
Estate in Victoria1. Though, there are some changes has been made to this process under the
Justice Amendment Act and has been announced on 29 October 2014. A restriction has been
placed on the class of plaintiffs who will be applying for an order for family provision to be
made in respect of the recently dead person’s estate. The amendments have been applied only
those estates where the deceased person either died on 1st January 2015 or later. The
amendments give a right to everyone for applying an order for family provision to the court
but the person must be eligible under the Amending Act. The claim of family provision needs
to be made either in the County Court or Supreme Court. Birmelow v Alampi (2016) VSC
was the first case of the Victorian Supreme Court, based on the recent law reforms of dispute
estates.
Main content
The property left behind by a person after death is known as a dead person's 'estate'. Debts
and assets of the dead person are managed from his estate. If there is any valid will in
existence the executor will manage the estate accordingly. If there is no valid will then the
deceased's kin can manage the estate or appoint an administrator for the same. The executor
1 Fiona Burns, "Burns, Fiona --- "The Changing Patterns Of Total Intestacy Distribution Between Spouses And Children In Australia And England"
[2013] Unswlawjl 18; (2013) 36(2) UNSW Law Journal 470", Classic.Austlii.Edu.Au (Webpage, 2019)
<http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/UNSWLawJl/2013/18.html>.
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