Succession Laws REPORT AUGUST 2013 Victorian Law Level 3 Telephone Email Reform Commission 333 Queen Street +61 3 8608 7800 [email protected] GPO Box 4637 Melbourne Freecall www.lawreform.vic.gov.au Melbourne Victoria 3000 1300 666 555 Victoria 3001 Australia (within Victoria) Australia Fax DX 144, Melbourne +61 3 8608 7888 Victorian Law Reform Commission Succession Laws: Report ii Contents Preface ........................................................................................................................................ix Terms of reference ..................................................................................................................... x Glossary .....................................................................................................................................xii Executive summary .................................................................................................................xiv Recommendations ................................................................................................................. xxiii 1. Introduction ...........................................................................................................................2 Terms of reference ..............................................................................................................2 The National Uniform Succession Laws project ...............................................................3 The Commission’s process ...................................................................................................3 The Commission’s approach to the issues ............................................................................4 Structure of this report ........................................................................................................4 2. Witnessing wills and undue influence ................................................................................6 Introduction ........................................................................................................................6 Requirements for witnessing a will ......................................................................................6 Additional qualifications or requirements for witnesses ..................................................7 The witness-beneficiary rule ......................................................................................... 10 Prevention of undue influence through other changes to the will-making process .......................................................................................................... 13 Requirement to obtain a medical capacity assessment .................................................. 13 Guidelines on minimising undue influence.................................................................... 14 Doctrine of undue influence .............................................................................................. 15 Probate undue influence .............................................................................................. 16 Equitable undue influence ............................................................................................ 17 Adoption of equitable undue influence in probate in British Columbia .......................... 18 Views and conclusions ................................................................................................ 19 Other common law rules related to undue influence .........................................................20 Testamentary capacity .................................................................................................. 21 Knowledge and approval and suspicious circumstances ................................................ 21 Fraud and forgery ........................................................................................................22 iii Victorian Law Reform Commission Succession Laws: Report 3. Statutory wills ..................................................................................................................... 24 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 24 Determining the intentions of the incapacitated person .....................................................25 Involvement of the incapacitated person in the decision ....................................................26 Current law ..................................................................................................................26 Other jurisdictions ........................................................................................................ 27 Views and conclusions ................................................................................................. 27 Accessibility of the statutory wills process ..........................................................................28 Removing the two-stage process for an application .....................................................29 Hearings at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal ............................................30 Hearings on the papers ................................................................................................ 31 Costs rules ................................................................................................................... 31 4. Ademption ...........................................................................................................................36 Introduction .....................................................................................................................36 The ademption rule ...........................................................................................................37 Current law ..................................................................................................................37 An alternative approach to ademption .........................................................................38 Commission’s views and conclusions ...........................................................................40 Acts by substitute decision makers ....................................................................................40 Acts by administrators appointed by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal ........... 41 Section 53 of the Guardianship and Administration Act ............................................... 41 Model for an exception to ademption ...............................................................................42 Avoiding unjust outcomes ...........................................................................................43 Treatment of income generated by sale proceeds .........................................................45 Account-keeping obligations ........................................................................................46 Capacity and persons with administrators appointed ....................................................48 Acts by persons acting under an enduring power of attorney (financial) ............................48 Current law ..................................................................................................................48 National Committee for Uniform Succession Laws .......................................................49 A legislative exception to ademption ...........................................................................49 Account-keeping obligations .......................................................................................49 Capacity ......................................................................................................................50 Warning to donors of enduring powers of attorney (financial) ...................................... 51 Access to a person’s will to prevent ademption ................................................................ 51 Current law ..................................................................................................................52 Views from submissions ...............................................................................................52 Commission’s views and conclusions ............................................................................53 iv 5. Intestacy ...............................................................................................................................56 Introduction ......................................................................................................................56 Overview of intestacy in Victoria ..................................................................................56 National Committee for Uniform Succession Laws ........................................................57 Areas in which the Commission recommends reform ...................................................57 Setting a limit on next of kin .............................................................................................58 Current law ..................................................................................................................58 Proposed change .........................................................................................................59 Views and conclusions .................................................................................................60 Survivorship ......................................................................................................................63