What's the process?

Anyone who is at least 18 years old can make a will.

The LawOnline system may not be used to make a will for a person who has not reached 18 years of age at the time that the will is made.

A person who is under 18, in some States of Australia, may make a will if he or she is, or has been married, or is about to be married. Each State and Territory in Australia has its own law on this issue.

If you die without leaving a will, you are said to have died "intestate". In that case, the law specifies how your property will be distributed. This will usually be to a surviving spouse or partner and your immediate family, or to close relatives, in set proportions.

This may not be what you would have wished or what your family wants, and it could involve them and your estate in the cost and effort of making a claim in court. If there are no relatives who are in the categories listed in the law, then your estate goes to the State.

Your lawyer or a family member can still administer your estate if you have not made a will, but only according to the law. It is usually much more expensive and time consuming to do this, than it would have been if you had left a valid will.

Even if you don't own much property, it is wise to have a will. Probably the best reason to have a will is to save your family some of the trouble and expense that occurs when a person dies without leaving a will. It can add considerably to the time, expense and trouble that is involved in tidying up the affairs of a person who dies, if the person dies without leaving a will.

You should make a will when you marry or enter into a civil union or a de facto relationship. When you have children, it is especially important to have a will.

Because of the importance of your will, the law says it must be made in a prescribed manner. The LawOnline system ensures that you will make a valid will, as long as you carefully follow all of the advice that you are given by the LawOnline system and carefully follow all of the steps that you are advised to take.

You and 2 witnesses will need to sign the will, all in each other’s presence.

For each will, there can only be one person whose will is being made. Two people cannot make a single will together. They must each make separate wills.

The usual reasons for establishing a family trust include:

• To try to achieve protection of some assets from creditors, where you are personally undertaking a risky business venture, in case it fails.
• To ensure that some assets, such as a family business or a farm, are transferred intact to the next generation.
• To make sure that some assets are retained for other family members, when one or more members needs rest home or hospital care.
• To protect family members or a family business from possible relationship breakdown, or from a contested will claim.
• To manage the assets of someone who is unable to manage his or her own affairs, whether through a disability or illness.
• To simplify estate administration by transferring assets to a trust before death.
• To change tax liability.

The trustees are the legal owners of the trust property and can do the same sorts of things with the trust property that any owner can do. They can hold property, raise mortgages, open and operate bank accounts and generally hold all types of assets and investments, as long as they operate according to the powers set out in the trust deed.

• It will be sent to you by email in a matter of seconds, immediately after you pay the fee and click the email button.
• You will be able to download it again from your dashboard as often as you like and you will be able to email it to yourself or to someone else, as often as you like.

• It is free for you to edit your document for a year, as many times as you like. You won't be able to make changes to the names of the principal parties or document titles, once the document has been purchased. However, everything else is freely changeable, as many times as you like for a year.
• After you have logged in you will see your name on the top menu. If you click on your name, you will see a link to your dashboard.
• Just select the edit button that you will find on your dashboard, next to the link to the document that you want to edit.

• The LawOnline system keeps a copy of the latest version of any document that you create. Your documents are kept on a secure server which is fully backed up. They are available to you through your dashboard, which you can access by logging on with your username and password. After you have logged in you will see your name on the top menu. If you click on your name, your will see a link to your dashboard.
• Your documents are kept for at least 7 years and any signed original documents that we may be keeping for you will be kept indefinitely.
• In the unlikely event that the LawOnline business failed, the Law Society has a statutory power to ensure that your documents are protected.

The Lawyers at LawOnline have carefully prepared the documents that you will find on the LawOnline site, to ensure that you will prepare a fully legal and normal legal document. You also have the benefit of all of the legal advice that is made available to you on this website. It is just as safe as visiting a lawyer personally, but is a great deal more convenient to access and is often considerably cheaper.