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Where am I now? Lawlink > Law Reform Commission > Publications > Preface
Issues Paper 26 (2005) - Uniform Succession Laws: Intestacy
Preface
Updates and background for this project (Digest)
In 1991 the Standing Committee of Attorneys General (SCAG) approved the development of uniform succession laws for the whole of Australia. In 1995 a National Committee on Uniform Succession Laws was established to review the existing State laws relating to succession and to propose model national uniform laws. The Committee comprises representatives from the various jurisdictions in Australia and the Queensland Law Reform Commission is the co-ordinating agency. The New South Wales Attorney General asked the New South Wales Law Reform Commission to participate in the deliberations of the National Committee under terms of reference that were issued on 5 May 1995:
To inquire into and report on the existing law and procedure relating to succession and to recommend and draft a model State and Territories law on succession.
The National Committee has divided the project into different phases, each of which deals with a discreet area of succession law. The areas of law are:
- the law of wills;1
- family provision (or Testator’s family maintenance);2
- administration of estates of deceased persons;3 and
- intestacy.
This Issues Paper, is the first stage of the review of the law relating to intestacy and raises, and invites comments on, a number of issues in relation to the law of intestacy in the different Australian jurisdictions. The law in New Zealand and England has also been included for the sake of comparison. The provisions relating to intestacy are principally contained in the following pieces of legislation:
- Succession Act 1981 (Qld) Part 3
- Administration and Probate Act 1929 (ACT) Part 3A
- Wills, Probate and Administration Act 1898 (NSW) Part 2 Div 2a
- Administration and Probate Act 1969 (NT) Part 3, Div 4-5
- Administration and Probate Act 1919 (SA) Part 3a
- Administration and Probate Act 1935 (Tas) Part 5
- Administration and Probate Act 1958 (Vic) Part 1 Div 6
- Administration Act 1903 (WA) Part 2
- Administration Act 1969 (NZ) Part 3
- Administration of Estates Act 1925 (Eng) Part 4
Unless otherwise stated, these Acts are the ones referred to in the summary tables at the commencement of each section of this Issues Paper.
The issues set out in this Issues Paper have been framed by the New South Wales Law Reform Commission and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Committee which is yet to adopt a position in relation to the issues discussed. The National Committee invites members of the public and organisations with an interest or expertise in the issues under review to comment on the issues raised or any other issues that should be addressed.
FOOTNOTES
1. See New South Wales Law Reform Commission, Uniform Succession Laws: The Law of Wills (Issues Paper 10, 1996); See New South Wales Law Reform Commission, Uniform Succession Laws: The Law of Wills (Report 85, 1998).
2. See New South Wales Law Reform Commission, Uniform Succession Laws: Family Provision (Issues Paper 11, 1996); National Committee on Uniform Succession Laws, Report to the Standing Committee of Attorneys General on Family Provision (Queensland Law Reform Commission, Miscellaneous Paper 28, 1997); National Committee for Uniform Succession Laws, Family Provision: Supplementary Report to the Standing Committee of Attorneys General (Queensland Law Reform Commission, Report 58, 2004).
3. See See New South Wales Law Reform Commission, Uniform Succession Laws: Administration of Estates of Deceased Persons (Discussion Paper 42, 1999); Queensland Law Reform Commission, Uniform Succession Laws: Recognition of Interstate and Foreign Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration (Discussion Paper, WP 55, 2001); New South Wales Law Reform Commission, Uniform Succession Laws: Recognition of Interstate and Foreign Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration (IP 21, 2002). |
