Protect your estate from potential claims
Defend your Will so your wealth goes to the people you choose.
The law gives eligible people the right to contest your Will – and the threshold for making a family provision claim is not as high as most people think. A spouse, an adult child, a former partner, or someone you financially supported in the past may all be entitled to apply to a court for a greater share of your estate regardless of what your Will says. You have made deliberate choices about who should benefit from your wealth. We help you build an estate plan that is structured from the outset to make those challenges as difficult as possible to succeed.
Protecting your estate from unwanted claims
Family provision legislation gives certain eligible people the right to challenge your will in court and seek a larger share of your estate than you intended them to receive. Defending against this risk requires more than a well-drafted Will – it requires deliberate structuring, documented reasoning, and an estate plan designed with challenge-resistance built in.
Who can challenge my Will in Australia?
Under family provision legislation, certain eligible people can apply to a court for a greater share of your estate than your Will provides. The eligible categories vary by state but generally include a spouse or de facto partner, children (including financially independent adult children), former spouses, and in some states, people who were substantially dependent on you. Being eligible does not guarantee success – the court must be satisfied that you failed in your moral duty to adequately provide for them – but the threshold for eligibility is relatively easy to meet, which is why proactive structuring matters.
Can I structure my assets to reduce the risk of a successful challenge?
Does a family provision claim require my Will to be legally defective?
No. A family provision claim is entirely separate from a challenge to the formal validity of a Will. It does not require the claimant to argue that your Will is not legally valid – only that you failed to make adequate provision for them and that you had a moral duty to do so. This means that a Will prepared by a qualified solicitor, executed correctly, and free from any capacity or undue influence issues can still be the subject of a successful family provision claim.
What role does documentation play in defending against a Will challenge?
Documentation is critical. A statutory declaration prepared at the time your Will is made – recording your reasons for the choices you have made, particularly where you have excluded an eligible person or limited their share – creates a contemporaneous record that courts consider when assessing a claim. It does not prevent a claim from being made, but it significantly strengthens your estate’s position when defending one. The absence of documented reasoning leaves the court to infer your intentions from limited evidence, which rarely works in the estate’s favour.
Understand your exposure
Minimise the claimable estate
Protect your intentions
Ready to protect your estate?
So you think you have the right to choose who gets your assets when you die?
- We will identify who may be eligible to challenge your estate.
- We will assess the strength of any potential family provision claim.
- We will advise on strategies to minimise the claimable estate.
- We will structure your assets to reduce your exposure to a challenge.
- We will prepare a robust estate plan with documented reasons for your distribution choices.
You have made sacrifices to build your wealth. Make sure the effort was worthwhile.
You have been deliberate about who you want to benefit from your estate – and equally deliberate about who you do not.
Perhaps there is an estranged adult child, a former partner, or someone you have supported financially but do not wish to reward with a share of your estate. You are aware that family provision legislation gives these people the right to apply to a court and potentially override your intentions.
You do not want the people you have chosen to spend years in litigation defending your wishes after you are gone. You want to take every available legal step now to make any challenge as difficult as possible to bring and as unlikely as possible to succeed.
What's included in your estate challenge defence service
- Family provision risk assessment.
- Estate structuring advice.
- Will preparation with challenge-resistant provisions.
- Statutory declaration documenting your intentions.
Leaving things to chance is not an option.
Family provision claims are among the most disruptive challenges an estate can face, and the bar for bringing one is lower than most people realise.
Unlike a challenge to the formal validity of a Will, a family provision claim does not require proof that your Will is legally defective – only that an eligible person was not adequately provided for and that you had a moral obligation to do so. The categories of eligible claimants are broader than many people expect: financially independent adult children, former spouses, and people who were dependent on you may all qualify. And the assets subject to a claim are not always limited to what passes under the Will – assets held in certain trust structures or other arrangements can be drawn into the notional estate depending on how they are held and the state in which you live.
How we help you defend your estate
We begin by assessing your specific exposure – who the likely claimants are, what their eligibility looks like, and how strong their claim could be if made. We advise on the strategies most likely to reduce that exposure, whether that means restructuring how certain assets are held, reducing the size of the claimable estate, building protections into your trust and superannuation arrangements, or creating a documented record of your reasons for the choices you have made.
We prepare all of your estate planning documents with challenge-resistance built in from the start. By the time your estate plan is complete, you have done everything the law allows to ensure your wealth ends up with the people you intend.
Three steps to an estate plan that stands up.
Assess your exposure
We review your estate structure and identify the people most likely to bring a family provision claim, and the strength of any potential claim.
Develop your strategy
We advise on the specific legal strategies available to reduce challenge risk and structure your assets and documentation accordingly.
Document your plan
We prepare comprehensive estate planning documents with challenge-resistance built in, along with supporting records that document your intentions.
Experienced estate planning lawyers ready to protect your wishes.
We understand how frustrating it is to know that the law gives certain people the right to challenge your will in court – people you may have deliberately excluded from your plans for good reason. You have earned the right to make your own decisions about the wealth you have built, and the idea that a family member or former partner can undo those decisions through litigation is genuinely confronting.
Our lawyers include Accredited Specialists in Business Law, Fellows of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, and Accredited Family Business Advisers. We have helped thousands of independently-minded clients put in place estate plans structured to resist challenge and give their intentions the best possible chance of being respected.
We understand you want to know the cost, before we get started.
We will map out our process, from beginning to end, so you know what the journey will look like before you get started.
We will provide you with a clear and detailed Work Proposal covering each step along the way.
Our fair fees are all-inclusive. No hidden costs for telephone calls, emails, photocopying, couriers, or coffee.
Our great lawyer guarantee
We want to be part of your team over the long term. We achieve this by adhering to these core principles:
Take the time
We listen carefully to understand what you want to achieve. Then we thoroughly explain our advice and step you through the documents. You can be sure you know the full consequences.
Share our knowledge
We will pass on as much knowledge as we can, so you can make your own informed decisions. We want to make you truly independent.
Stick to our knitting
We only do what we're good at. You can be confident that we know what we're doing and don't pass on the cost of our learning.
Work as one team
Someone will always be available to answer your questions, or point you in the right direction. You will also benefit from a range of perspectives and experience.
Fair pricing
For advice and documents, we provide a fixed or capped quote so you don't take price risk. If you're in a dispute, we map out the process and costs so you know what to expect.
It's your show
We're not in this for our egos. We're in it for a front row seat to witness your success.
