Estate Defence Lawyers is a Sydney-based law firm of estate lawyers that specialise in acting for the executors of deceased estates and for the owners of property in the drafting of their wills and planning of their estates. While probate and wills is our speciality our passion is protecting estates from family provision claims.

We skilfully defend the bequests made to named beneficiaries against claims made by disgruntled parties who are contesting the will. We also advise on how to plan your estate so that a family provisions claim is impossible to make.

Will contesting has become more and more common since the 2008 changes to the NSW Family Provision law. Estate lawyers who act for will contesting claimants are only too eager to act on a no-win no-fee basis and to tell them how to contest will, when to contest a will and everything else they need to know about contesting a will. This has resulted in a flood of litigation.

An estate lawyer can help you draft a legal will, also known as a last will and testament* so as to minimise the risk. An estate lawyer can also assist you in changing a will. It is important that you have a legal will. Do-it-yourself wills are only suitable for people with no property. If you have a house or other substantial assets they are a magnet for disputes and will lead to a contested will after you have you have passed away. That’s why writing a will with the assistance of an estate lawyer is so important.

No matter if you are a grieving widow who is under attack, or a property owner making a will, it is the job of our dedicated and learned solicitors to protect the assets of estates under attack. We are the Estate Defence Lawyers.

A will contest is a terrible experience for your loved ones you leave behind. This is because a contested will means your estate will not be settled for years after you die.  Legal wills used to be determinative of how the estate was distributed, the law of probate and wills was uncontentious. Sadly now will lawyers are only too happy to educate disgruntled persons on how to contest a will. A contest will mean probate will be an expensive affair and up to 70% of the estate will go to lawyers.

As well as defending estates from Family Provisions and testamentary incapacity claims in court we also advise living testators on what steps that they can take to ensure their bequests are respected by the court after they die or to prevent the court from having jurisdiction to thwart their gifts in the first place. We never act for people who are disgruntled and are contesting a will.

Estate Defence Lawyers have a legal team of 7 Solicitors and 5 support staff. Our solicitors stand ready to represent the executor of a will so as to guide them through the legal minefield that is probate of a will.

*A legal will is sometimes called a last will and testament or will and testament because the law sometimes uses the Norman and the English words together as a legacy of the Norman conquest of England. In fact will and testament are synonymous, like devise and bequeath, nook and cranny, cease and desist hue and cry, goods and chattels and null and void.