How do Wills work?

The general principle is that a will can be changed anytime before the person making the will dies.  Sometimes a person has entered a contract to leave their  estate or part of it in a specific fashion, the courts would normally enforce that contract provided the contract is valid.  In some instances a gift left in a will might not be valid eg a gift to a former spouse when the will is made before divorce. Generally wills made before marriage are revoked on marriage.  

Only the person making the will needs to be involved.

As wills are State laws and not Commonwealth, there are differences between the States.  If you do not leave anything or sufficient to a person you hold a moral duty to provide for the court can change your will after you die.

If you are the person who is making the will you should get legal advice.  If you are enquiring for  someone else and the likelihood is that you will be a beneficiary  then that person should preferably not use your solicitor and you should not be present when they give instructions to the lawyer.  The person needs normally to be 18 or over and units and what they are doing.

There has been cases, Terry can probably quote them more than I, where a elderly lady has written a will on a scrap of paper in Hospital, and although it was not witnessed it was upheld.  This was mainly due to her telling the nurse that was her intention, and it canceled out a solicitor drawn will that was dated earlier.

People sometimes use cases like above to say that you can do a will by yourself and save the money of going to see a solicitor.  Problem is that in stories like above, a large part of the estate is spent on legal fees trying to sort out what should apply.  Much cheaper to pay for it to be done properly in the first place.

Unfortunately even properly drafted wills can be challenged under family provision acts and the funds to defend it come out of the estate, but at least if it is properly drafted a lot less money will be spend arguing over which parts of it are or are not valid.  Using a specialist like Terry will also minimise the risk of such a challenge, as if you choose not to provide for a family member for some reason, a specialist will be able to get you to properly document why. 

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Lawyers actually make more money from the home drafted wills or the will kits as they often lead to expensive litigation. Supreme Court action is not cheap.