Topic – Doctrines affecting gifts in wills – the forfeiture rule

Andrew is a 72 year old resident of WA. In 2014, his wife Belinda was suffering the final stages of terminal leukaemia, and begged Andrew to assist her suicide. Andrew, who has limited intellectual ability, and was deeply distraught at the time, assisted Belinda to take a lethal overdose of sleeping tablets. He was charged with murder, but was convicted of the lesser offence of manslaughter. He was given a non-custodial sentence. Andrew is the sole beneficiary of Belinda’s will. She has no other relatives of any kind. What will happen to her estate? Can Andrew inherit it under her will? Will he take on intestacy under the Administration Act 1903 (WA)? Can he make a successful claim under the Family Provision Act 1972 (WA)? Discuss the policy underlying the law in this area and the extent to which it is open to debate or criticism.

QUESTION:

Put briefly, an Answer Plan is a skeletal version of your Essay, setting out the way in which you intend to structure that Essay. The main purpose of the plan is to help you structure your Essay successfully (by getting the structure right before you sit down to write the Essay itself).

The Planning stage comes after the conclusion of your Research. So keep the statements in your Plan concrete and to the point. Make sure that your Plan contains the actual answers to any questions posed in your Topic. (So write “Paragraph 2: The will is informal – only one witness – s 8 of the Act”, not “Paragraph 2: I will discuss whether the correct number of witnesses have signed, and cite some cases or legislation that state the law”.)