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December 26, 2025 \u2014 4:00am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n It is a familiar scene. Family tensions bubble to the surface over the Christmas turkey or a heatstroke-inducing day at the cricket.<\/p>\n Lawyers say the rise in family get-togethers over summer, often involving a potent mix of alcohol and prolonged exposure to extended members of the clan, triggers a flurry of requests for advice about wills and inheritances.<\/p>\n Law firms typically have a shutdown period from December 24 to early January.<\/p>\n But Turnbull Hill Lawyers partner Adrian Corbould, an accredited specialist in wills and estates law, said he had seen an \u201cupsurge\u201d in inquiries about inheritance issues around this time.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the bringing of the families together \u2026 and [the opening of] wounds, or perceived wounds, from decades past,\u201d Corbould said.<\/p>\n He said it was potentially the one time of year large blended families got together, and a parent might have a new partner.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of it is somebody\u2019s had a few too many drinks. Someone has had an argument over Aunt Rose\u2019s trifle.\u201d<\/p>\n HWL Ebsworth partner Guy Moloney, who specialises in complex estate litigation and estate planning matters, said, \u201cChristmas is obviously a time when, whether they want it or not, families are expected to come together.<\/p>\n \u201cAs many know from common experience, that can bring these tensions to the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018The Boxing Day epiphany\u2019<\/p>\n Mary-Ann de Mestre, principal of Sydney law firm M de Mestre Lawyers, is a lecturer in succession law at Macquarie University.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery year, there\u2019s a kind of \u2018post-Christmas will rush\u2019,\u201d de Mestre said of requests for advice.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople call it the Boxing Day epiphany. Suddenly, after the relatives leave, the credit card bills arrive, and someone inevitably cracks a joke about who\u2019s getting what in the family, people realise it\u2019s probably a good time to finally sort out their affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n Even without a summertime surge in inquiries, experts predict 2026 will be another busy year for disputes about wills and inheritances. These are some of the key lessons from court fights this year.<\/p>\n DIY and \u2018iPhone wills\u2019<\/p>\n Informal wills \u2013 which don\u2019t meet formal requirements relating to signatures and witnesses \u2013 are legally fraught.<\/p>\n This year, the state\u2019s top court, the NSW Court of Appeal, found a note on an iPhone<\/a> and an unsigned document attached to an email<\/a> were legally valid as the final, informal wills of wealthy Sydneysiders. The Supreme Court found a journal note was also valid.<\/p>\n But lawyers warn that informal wills can leave family members with a large legal bill because it may be difficult to prove the deceased intended it to operate as their final will. This is necessary for the courts to dispense with formal requirements.<\/p>\n WHAT IS A VALID WILL?Under NSW law, a will is\u00a0not valid<\/a>\u00a0unless it is in writing and signed by the will-maker, or another person in their presence and at their direction. That signature must be made, or acknowledged by the will-maker, in the presence of at least two witnesses.At least two of those witnesses must also attest and sign the will in the will-maker\u2019s presence.However, a court\u00a0may dispense with the formal requirements for making a will.<\/a> An informal document is \u201cthe deceased person\u2019s will \u2026 if the court is satisfied that the person intended it to form his or her will\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n Corbould said that \u201ca good number of wealthy people\u201d were still using inexpensive DIY will kits<\/a> or making an informal will, such as a note on their phone. Both were risky.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople just don\u2019t like doing paperwork,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n People might baulk at paying several hundred dollars for a lawyer to draft a \u201csimple will\u201d, Corbould said, but it could save family members thousands in the future.<\/p>\n De Mestre said that \u201cbetween iPhone notes, WhatsApp messages, and Google Docs, people are increasingly treating their devices as the ultimate repository of their intentions\u201d.<\/p>\n Tech-savvy people might see informal wills as a \u201cpragmatic shortcut\u201d, she said, but it came with legal risk because they were \u201cvulnerable to attack\u201d.<\/p>\n No will? There\u2019s a way<\/p>\n Moloney said there is no legal requirement to make a will. State-based laws deal with the division of an estate where a person dies without a will. Primacy is given to spouses, or any children in the absence of a spouse.<\/p>\n \u201cRemember: if you do nothing at all, the law will presume you were content with the operation of the laws of intestacy [where a person dies without a will], which you may not want,\u201d Moloney said.<\/p>\n He warned that surviving relatives, if any, would also \u201chave to sort out who applies for a grant of letters of administration [allowing a person to administer the estate], which will take longer\u201d.<\/p>\n Family provision claims<\/p>\n All three experts predicted there would be an increase in people seeking family provision orders<\/a>, which is a way for current or former dependants of a deceased, among others, to seek a larger slice of the inheritance pie if inadequate provision was made for them in a will. The court makes such orders only on a needs basis.<\/p>\n The number of family provision filings in the NSW Supreme Court increased from 880 in 2020 to 996 last year.<\/p>\n De Mestre said that \u201cthese trends show contested estate litigation is not static. Filings remain high, reflecting broader socio-economic pressures, complex family structures, and higher estate values.\u201d<\/p>\n Corbould said an increase in claims by de facto partners was likely. Family provision claims may be made by people who were previously a \u201cmember of the household\u201d of the deceased and dependent on them.<\/p>\n \u201cBe aware if you let someone into your home for any duration or regularity, they could later call themselves a \u2018member of the household\u2019 and previously dependent \u2013 even if you may not have thought so,\u201d Corbould said.<\/p>\n He said the rise in blended families, which increased the pool of people eligible for family provision orders, would also lead to more claims, as would the deaths of more Baby Boomers.<\/p>\n Estates that included an unencumbered home in Sydney virtually guaranteed the estate was worth more than $2 million, Corbould said.<\/p>\n Costs<\/p>\n Litigating over an inheritance can prove costly. In one case, a Sydney woman who received more than $450,000 of her late father\u2019s $3 million estate launched proceedings to increase her slice of the assets.<\/p>\n She lost<\/a>, and was ordered to pay the bulk of the executor\u2019s legal costs of defending the case out of her existing share.<\/p>\n De Mestre said the \u201ccourts are signalling that family provision claims are no longer free passes into estates\u201d.<\/p>\n Moloney said that \u201cthe prospect of an adverse cost is something all family provision litigants must squarely contemplate before commencing proceedings\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe courts have been clear for some time now that to run a bad or speculative claim on the assumption you get a free kick on costs is erroneous.\u201d<\/p>\n Variations on a theme<\/p>\n Moloney said that \u201cafter several years of case-watching, the issues remain similar, or recur with variations\u201d.<\/p>\n The decisions provided \u201cendless lessons about human nature; greed; the futility in basing your life around an expectation of inheritance; the financial pressures compounding on the young; medical advances helping the bodies of the old stay alive whilst their minds grow enfeebled; and people lusting after an inheritance windfall\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI consider the psychology involved similar to gambling \u2013 the lure of unearned wealth,\u201d Moloney said.<\/p>\n He said a good rule of thumb was to \u201cconduct your life on the assumption you will inherit nothing\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThat way you can only be pleasantly surprised if you receive something at all \u2013 and it was never \u2018your\u2019 money to begin with.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only lessons to be learnt are to make a will with a good solicitor [and] do not disclose its contents unless you feel it absolutely safe or uncontroversial to do so. My usual advice is not to reveal anything anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n Suspicious wills<\/p>\n Wills made in suspicious circumstances were also examined in court this year, including a case involving a carer being written into an elderly man\u2019s will in ever-increasing shares.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it comes to regulating the circumstances in which suspicious wills are made, the law is very good at being reactive and very bad at being proactive,\u201d Moloney said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you smell a rat in your family regarding a will being cooked up in suspicious circumstances, it can be very hard to stop, and very expensive to \u2018make right\u2019 after death.\u201d<\/p>\n He said key issues for family members to consider would include: \u201cDid the will maker have capacity to do what they did; am I just disappointed [with my inheritance]; if I\u2019m a spouse or child, do I have real financial need that would move a court to do something different; and do I have the money and stomach for a long fight.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Don\u2019t wait for a family argument\u2019<\/p>\n De Mestre said that \u201cideally, you don\u2019t want to wait for a family argument, a health scare, or a New Year\u2019s hangover to think about your estate\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cGetting advice early is like putting the smoke alarms in before the fire starts: it\u2019s a lot less stressful, more thoughtful, and it gives you time to plan creatively.<\/p>\n \u201cPlus, it\u2019s one of the few New Year\u2019s resolutions you can actually finish in an hour and feel genuinely virtuous about.<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately, taking the time to get professional advice ensures your wishes are legally protected and can help prevent costly disputes for your loved ones later.\u201d<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. 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Lawyers report an increase in inquiries about wills and inheritances after the holiday period.Stephen Kiprillis<\/p>\n