Home » Make a deceased estate claim or Will challenge

Make a deceased estate claim or Will challenge

We tell you honestly whether you have a family provision claim, and then we run it.

Someone you cared about has died, and the will they left does not reflect what the relationship actually was, what you put into it, or what you now need. The will may be perfectly valid. In Australia, valid and adequate are two different questions, and the law treats them that way. Family provision legislation lets eligible family members and dependants ask the court for proper provision even where the will says otherwise. Your claim may be stronger than you think it is. The real risk is that you spend the window working out whether to ask.

Speak to a lawyer What is included

A straight answer first

You get an honest view of your prospects before you spend anything, including when the answer is that the claim is not worth running.

The evidence courts actually weigh

Your claim is built on financial records, contribution and relationship evidence rather than on how strongly you feel about it.

Resolved without a trial where possible

Most claims settle at mediation, which costs less and leaves more of the family intact than a hearing does.

What is a family provision claim?

A family provision claim, often called a will challenge, is an application to the Supreme Court for provision out of a deceased estate, regardless of what the will says. In South Australia the Inheritance (Family Provision) Act allows eligible people, including spouses, domestic partners, children, stepchildren and certain dependants, to apply where the will or the intestacy rules have not provided adequately for them. It does not attack the validity of the will. It accepts the will and asks the court to adjust what comes out of the estate.

Speak to a lawyer

Who can bring a family provision claim in South Australia?

Spouses and domestic partners, children, and in some circumstances stepchildren, grandchildren and others who were financially maintained by the deceased. Eligibility turns on your relationship with the deceased and on the legislation in the state where the estate is administered.

How long do I have?

Time limits differ between states. In South Australia a claim generally has to be brought within six months of probate or letters of administration being granted. A court can extend that in some circumstances, but you should never plan on it.

What does the court take into account?

The court weighs the size of the estate, your relationship with the deceased, and your financial circumstances and needs. It also weighs what you contributed to their welfare or their property. Then it sets that against the position of everyone else with a claim on the estate.

Can I claim if there was no will?

Yes. Where someone dies without a will, the estate passes under the intestacy rules. Those rules can leave you inadequately provided for just as a will can. The right to apply for family provision still exists.

Not sure whether you can claim?

The time limit runs from the grant of probate, so the first conversation is the one that matters. We will assess your eligibility and your prospects and act inside the window.

A document signed years ago is being treated as the measure of your relationship

Wills are often written long before death, and they do not always catch up with what happened afterwards: the care you gave, the income you gave up, the dependency that built over years. The person who was present is sometimes the person left with little or nothing. And the time limit runs from the grant, not from the day you realise something is wrong.

We will assess your eligibility and your prospects before you commit to anything.
We will confirm the time limit that applies and protect your position inside it.
We will gather the financial and relationship evidence the court expects.
We will value the estate and identify the competing claims on it.
We will represent you in negotiation, at mediation, and in court if it goes that far.

Is this your situation?

You are grieving, and on top of it you have found out that someone you had a genuine relationship with left you very little, or nothing. Perhaps the will was changed late in life in circumstances you knew nothing about. Perhaps the estate has gone to a new partner, or to relatives who were largely absent while you were the one turning up. Perhaps you are the person who was there through the illness, who gave up hours and sometimes income to be there, and none of that appears anywhere in the document. You know something is wrong. What you do not know is whether the law gives you a remedy, or how long you have to find out.

What's included in your family provision claim service

Speak to a lawyer

What waiting costs

Family provision claims have strict time limits, and the clock runs whether or not anyone told you it had started. In South Australia a claim generally has to be brought within six months of the grant. People miss it constantly, for entirely understandable reasons: they are grieving, the family is tense, and they are waiting to see how the estate settles before deciding whether to make things worse by asking.

By the time the picture is clear the window has often closed. And meeting the deadline is only half of it. A claim assembled on thin evidence, or run without a strategy, tends to settle for a fraction of what it was worth, or fails at hearing when proper preparation would have carried it. The person who provided years of care, or who was financially dependent, or who helped build the assets now going to someone else, ends up with nothing because nobody told them in time that they were allowed to ask.

How we build and run your claim

We start with the will, the estate and the nature of your relationship with the deceased, and give you an honest view of whether the claim is viable and what it is realistically worth. If the grounds are there, we assemble the evidence the court actually wants: financial records showing dependency or contribution, documentation of the relationship, what the deceased said about their intentions, and a proper valuation of the estate.

Most of these claims resolve at negotiation or mediation, well before a hearing. We push for that where it produces a fair result, because it is faster, it costs less, and it does less damage to the family relationships that have to survive the estate. Where the other side will not move to something reasonable, we are prepared to run it. What you end up with is provision that reflects what you were genuinely entitled to.

Three steps to proper provision

From an honest assessment to provision that reflects the relationship.

Test the claim

We review the will, your relationship with the deceased and your financial circumstances. Then we tell you whether the claim is viable and what it is worth.

Build the evidence

We assemble the financial and relationship evidence, value the estate, and lodge inside the time limit so your position is protected.

Negotiate or run it

We represent you at mediation, and where a fair offer does not come, through the court proceedings.

Estate litigators who will tell you where you actually stand

Having to argue about money and need at the most emotionally charged point of your life is a lot to ask of anyone, and doing it inside a legal system that is unfamiliar and openly adversarial is harder still. What is being weighed is not only the money. It is whether what you did for someone gets recognised at all.

We have acted for claimants in family provision matters across estates of very different sizes and families of very different shapes. We know what the court actually weighs, which is your circumstances and needs, your relationship with the deceased, what you contributed, the size of the estate and the competing claims on it. We will give you a straight answer on your prospects before you spend anything, including when the answer is that you do not have a claim worth running.

Our great lawyer guarantee

Six principles we hold to, whatever you bring us and however long it takes.

Take the time

We listen carefully to understand what you want to achieve, then step you through the advice and the documents.

Share our knowledge

We pass on as much as we can, so you can make your own informed decisions.

Stick to our knitting

We only do what we are good at, so you never pay for our learning.

Work as one team

Someone is always available to answer your question or point you the right way.

Fair pricing

A fixed or capped quote for advice and documents, so you do not carry the price risk.

It is your show

We are in it for a front row seat to witness your success, not for our egos.

Think you were left with less than you should have been?

Tell us about the will, the estate and your relationship with the person who died. We will tell you whether you have a claim worth bringing, what it is realistically worth, and how long you have got.

Speak to a lawyer 1300 654 590