Australian Capital Territory Current Acts

WILLS ACT 1968 - SECT 31B

    (1)     If a testator by will devises or bequeaths property to, or appoints property in favour of, his or her issue then, unless a contrary intention appears from the will or from evidence admitted under section 12B, the testator is presumed to have intended that, subject to subsection (2), the devise, bequest or appointment is to be distributed in equal shares between only those issue of the testator who—

        (a)     are his or her nearest issue; and

        (b)     survive the testator for a period of 30 days (the specified period ).

    (2)     If a person who is one of the nearest issue of the testator dies before the end of the specified period, leaving issue who survive the testator for the specified period ( surviving issue ), the testator shall be presumed to have intended that any surviving issue of that deceased nearest issue take, if more than 1 in equal shares, the share in the testator's estate that that deceased nearest issue would have taken had he or she survived the testator for the specified period.

    (3)     Subsection (2) does not operate to entitle any surviving issue remoter than the children of any deceased nearest issue to take unless the death of a parent who would have taken as surviving issue occurred before the end of the specified period, and then the testator shall be presumed to have intended that the remoter issue take, if more than 1 in equal shares, the share that that parent would have taken.