Ways to Challenge a Will

Reasons to Challenge a Will

In Queensland, if a person believes a Will to be invalid (for example, there was undue influence or capacity issues), then they can commence proceedings to challenge the Will. This process is about arguing the Will is not valid and should not be approved by a court and consequently a Grant of Probate should not issue.

To challenge a Will, it is important to establish an interest in the deceased person's estate. To do this, an interested person needs to show that they are an eligible person, or would be so if the Will was set aside by the court and intestacy provisions would apply. In Queensland, the most common interested parties include:

• Beneficiaries

• An executor of the Will (or a former Will)

• A spouse, civil partner or de facto (and in some cases former ones)

• A dependent

• A child or step-child

• Persons who would otherwise receive something from the estate if the Will were set aside

Most commonly, the reasons to challenge a Will include:

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• Undue influence

• Lack of capacity

• The formal requirements under the Succession Act 1981 (Qld) have not been met

• The testator did not know or otherwise understand the content of the Will

• There are suspicious circumstances surrounding the making of the Will

• There is fraud or forgery involved

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There are many types of estate disputes which can arise for various reasons. 

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Some of these which we can help you with include:

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• family provision applications

• capacity concerns

• undue influence

• unusual circumstances when making a Will

• interpretation issues

• informal Wills

• breach of duty by Executors or administrators

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Whatever the situation is, it is very important that you act quickly in case of a time limit passing and preventing you from taking action.