John Mann providing Q & A on the Chris Smith Show discussing Wills - 10 April 2021

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CS-Chris Smith/JM – John Mann /C1,2,3, etc – Callers

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Read the transcript below:

JM       G’day Chris, how are you? 

CS       I’m doing very, very well, we’ve got an email here from Dean who wanted to talk about wills with you, he asks why do I need to have a will?

JM       Some people say I don’t have much to leave, or I don’t want these things to happen but making a will is your right, I suppose putting it one way is it’s your last say in this world as what you want to happen to your property and you have a full right to dispose of your property as you wish. It’s always better for the administration of someone’s estate where there’s a will because it is clear what’s written down what you want, getting probate of the will is much simpler to the situation where you don’t  have one.

CS       So what happens if he doesn’t organise a will before he dies?

JM       If you don’t have a will when you die it’s what the lawyers call an intestacy. In that situation the government has legislation which says what’s to happen to your estate, if you should pass away without a will, now that basically follows medieval concept of your bloodline, so that apart from the primary beneficiary being your wife or husband as the case may be, it then follows your family line, children, grandchildren, great-   grandchildren, it then goes to parents, brothers and sisters, children of brothers and sisters and so forth, but the important point of that is that what happens to your estate when there is no will, you have no control in. You might have certain wishes that you want to happen, you might have property you want to go to particular people, you might have members of your family you don’t want to make something for.

CS       Is there any rules with that John? In terms of is Dean obligated to give family members part of his estate or can he do what he wants?

JM       Basically we have testamentary freedom in this country, in other words, we can do precisely what we want in our wills, in European countries sometimes you have to leave a certain percentage of your estate to your wife and/or your children no matter what, here however we can leave it as we wish but the law imposes a duty on us to consider the call on us by various people wo are close to us, what their needs are and what provision would be appropriate for them. So those are the things to keep in mind.

CS       Okay, well John that’s really informative, thank you so much, enjoy the rest of your weekend.

JM       Thanks Chris.

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