Hemmant’s List Member Katrina Kluss appeared for the applicant in the recent case of In the Will of Peter John Hammond; Ex parte Powers [2025] QSC 94.
The matter concerned an application for probate in respect of a Will that was said to have been made in contemplation of the deceased entering into a subsequent civil partnership in circumstances where the asserted contemplation was not stated in the Will itself.
In determining this application, Martin SJA was required to interpret ss 14 and 14A Succession Act 1981 and, specifically, what is meant by the phrase “in contemplation of marriage” (or civil partnership, as the case may be).
In finding that the Will was in fact made in contemplation of the deceased entering into a civil partnership, Martin SJA had regard to interstate Supreme Court decisions where similar provisions had been interpreted and applied, and to evidence regarding the process undertaken by the deceased in making the Will.
This is the first time a decision has been published in Queensland in respect of these sections, which were inserted into the Succession Act 1981 in 2011. It involves a helpful, concise summary of the way in which these sections are to be construed and applied, and the evidence to be taken into account when establishing whether a testamentary document was “made in contemplation” of marriage or entering into a civil partnership.
A link to the case can be found here: In the Will of Peter John Hammond; Ex parte Powers [2025] QSC 94