Recent Wills Act Amendment Introducing International Wills

The recent amendment to the Wills Act now incorporated International Wills into Victorian law. 

 

Those who have assets in multiple countries may consider the amendment to be a welcome change.

 

Essentially, if a will is prepared in accordance with the formal requirements of the UNIDROIT Wills Convention, then it will be taken to have satisfied all formal requirements of a will in a jurisdiction that adopted the Convention. 

 

Jurisdictions adopted the Convention include Belgium, Canada (not all provinces), France and Italy.  United Kingdom and United States are also signatories to the Convention. However, the Parliaments of those two countries are yet to ratify the Convention.

 

Prior to the amendment, if the probate of a foreign will is sought in Victoria, an affidavit of a solicitor practicing in that foreign country setting out the relevant law relating to wills is in most instances required. 

 

A key difference between the formal requirements for international wills and those for Victorian wills is that, an international will is required to be witnessed by three witnesses, one of them being an “authorised witness”.  Lawyers and public notaries are authorised witnesses in Victoria.

 

Feel free to contact us if you wish to discuss any aspects of this article or if you are considering making an international will.