Wills

Real-world example

John was single, had never married and had no children. When he made his Will, he left his substantial estate to his mother. However, his mother died before him, and John did not remember to change his Will.

When John passed away, to finalise his affairs, the Queensland Public Trustee had to undertake extensive searches of John’s maternal and paternal family trees. This involved over two years of searching, finding around 25 family branches.

The result was 20 elderly cousins received varying shares of John’s estate. Some of these cousins died during the estate administration, complicating the estate further. Only a few of the beneficiaries actually knew John.

We can only wonder if this is what John would have wanted.