Succession Law

Succession Law

use AGLC writing method and use IRAC methodology AND DO NOT USE WORDS LIKE this, I, We, It etc. thanks
THIS IS AN ACADAMIC ESSAY

LAW301 SUCCESSION: 2016 ASSIGNMENT
John Emmett comes to you with the following problem. Last April, at the request of his brother Adam, a retired drover with little formal education, John took a
Newsagents’ Association Will- Making Kit to Adam at the Grafton Base Hospital, New South Wales. Adam had previously made a valid will in 2004, leaving his house in
Grafton to his wife Catherine and the residue of his estate to Catherine’s son, Simon Perrie and appointing Catherine his sole executor. Adam and Catherine were
divorced in 2009. This will was found in Adam’s desk in the house at Grafton.
In addition to that will, John brings with him two documents that were found in the top drawer of a cabinet in the room that had been occupied by Adam at the hospital
on the day after his death from a heart attack at the end of June 2016. The first document had been screwed up into a ball. It was a page from the will-making kit,
containing at the top a printed revocation clause and a printed clause for the appointment of executors, then a large space for gifts, followed by printed testimonium
and attestation clauses at the bottom. In the space for the executors’ names ‘John Emmett’ was written. In the large space for gifts appeared the words ‘I leave the
house at 103 Powel Street, Grafton and the money in my bank account to my brother John Emmett and my sister Jess Emmett equally’. Adam’s initials ‘AE’ were written
below the testimonium clause and ‘4 May 2016’, but nothing else had been written on the document. Apart from the printed parts the whole of the writing on the
document, including the initials, was in ballpoint pen. The handwriting on the document was Adam’s.
The second document was written in ballpoint pen in Adam’s handwriting on a blank sheet of paper. It was dated ‘18 June 2016’ But there were no signatures or initials
on it. There was no writing corresponding to the printed parts of the first document on the second document. The second document was identical to the handwritten parts
of the first document, with one difference. The dispositive clause provided: ‘I leave the house and the money in my bank account to my brother John Emmett, my sister
Jess Emmett and my sister-in-law Sophie Emmett equally’. Sophie Emmett is John’s estranged wife. They separated last year. Sophie had been kind to Adam, particularly
in the last few weeks before his death. The fact that only the handwriting on the first document was replicated on the second means that the second document does not
contain revocation, testimonium or attestation clauses, and the purpose of placing John’s name on the upper portion of the document is not made explicit.
John explains that Adam’s house at Grafton and approximately $200 000 with the National Australia Bank at Grafton account for most of Adam’s estate. But there is also
a new car, some furniture and a few personal belongings. An examination of the will-making kit used by Adam indicates that it contains a suggestion that a person using
the kit should write a preliminary draft will by completing the document on the opposite page and should then produce a final draft for signing and witnessing on a
fresh sheet of paper.
No-one was present when the two documents were drafted and during his period in hospital Adam never spoke to anyone about his will.
Advise John. Is any of these documents or any combination thereof admissible to probate as the will of Adam? Did Adam die fully testate or totally or partially
intestate? As the details available to you leave a good deal of legal uncertainty you should consider the various alternatives that might be open to a court. John’s
answers to your questions satisfy you that at all material times Adam would have had capacity to make a will and that no- one will apply for a family provision order
under any circumstances. Every person mentioned survives Adam but Adam left no other relatives. At the time of his death Adam could not stand his former wife Catherine
but was still very close to her son Simon.
Answers must be within the word limit of 2500 words. Excess of words will attract a penalty. You must comply with the Australian Guide to Legal Citation, Melbourne
University Law Review Association Inc, Melbourne, 3rd edition, 2010. This is an acedemic essay, and as such you should not write in the first person.

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