Victorian Current Acts

WILLS ACT 1997 - SECT 14

    (1)     The divorce of a testator revokes—

        (a)     any disposition to the divorced spouse of the testator, made in a will in existence at the time of the divorce; and

        (b)     the grant of a power of appointment by the will exercisable by or in favour of the spouse, other than a power of appointment exercisable by the spouse only in favour of persons who are the children of both the testator and the spouse; and

        (c)     any appointment made by the will of the spouse as an executor, trustee, advisory trustee or guardian other than the appointment of the spouse as a trustee of property left by the will upon trust for beneficiaries that include the children of the spouse.

    (2)     This section does not apply to any disposition, appointment or grant, if it appears that the testator did not want the disposition, appointment or grant to be revoked upon the ending of the marriage.

    (3)     A will in which there is a disposition, appointment or grant to which subsection (1) applies takes effect as if the spouse had predeceased the testator.

    (4)     In this section—

"divorce" means the ending of a marriage by—

        (a)     a decree of dissolution of the marriage becoming absolute under the Family Law Act 1975 of the Commonwealth; or

        (b)     the granting of a decree of nullity in respect of the marriage by the Family Court of Australia; or

        (c)     the dissolution or annulment of the marriage in accordance with the law of a place outside Australia, if that dissolution or annulment is recognised in Australia under the Family Law Act 1975 of the Commonwealth;

"divorced spouse" means the spouse of the testator by the marriage which was the subject of the divorce;

spouse includes a party to a purported or void marriage.