Australian Capital Territory Current Acts Australian Capital Territory Current Acts(1) A testamentary disposition of real or personal property made by a person included in a class of persons specified in subsection (6), that is to say, a declaration, either oral or in writing, of such a person's intention with respect to the disposal of property on or after his or her death, is as valid and effectual as it would have been if it had been made in a will executed in accordance with the provisions of part 2.
(2) An appointment made, either orally or in writing, by a person included in a class of persons specified in subsection (6) of another person to be the guardian of his or her infant children after his or her death is as valid and effectual as it would have been if it had been made in a will executed in accordance with the provisions of part 2.
(3) In any proceedings, evidence of a matter specified in subsection (4) that relates to a declaration referred to in subsection (1) or an appointment referred to in subsection (2) that has been made by a person is admissible for the purpose of proving that the person intended the declaration or appointment to have effect upon or after the person's death.
(4) The following matters are specified for subsection (3):
(a) any statement made by the person, either orally or in writing, at or about the time when he or she made the declaration or appointment;
(b) the circumstances in which the person made the declaration or appointment;
(c) if the person made the declaration or appointment orally—the relationship between the person and the other person to whom the declaration or appointment was made;
(d) if the person made the declaration or appointment in writing—the relationship between the person and any other person—
(i) to whom the person gave that writing; or
(ii) in whose presence the person wrote or signed that writing; or
(iii) who wrote that writing at the request or by the direction of the person.
(5) Subsection (3) is in addition to and not in substitution for any rules of law or procedure concerning evidence that is admissible in proceedings.
(6) Each of the following classes of persons is specified for this section:
(a) members of the Defence Force who are in actual armed service;
(b) persons employed outside Australia as representatives of organisations rendering philanthropic, welfare or medical service to members of the Defence Force;
(c) prisoners of war or persons interned in a country under the sovereignty, or in the occupation, of the enemy or in a neutral country who became prisoners of war or were so interned as a result of war or warlike operations and were, immediately before their capture or internment, persons included in a class of persons specified in paragraphs (a) or (b).
(7) A
person is not excluded from a class of persons specified in subsection (6) by
reason only of the fact that he or she has not attained the age of 18 years.