Legal Project Management Plan & Checklist
Purpose of this Guide: Use this plan when your client believes a deceased person's will is invalid and wants to challenge it in court before probate is granted. The caveator's role is to prevent the executor from obtaining an informal grant of probate by lodging a caveat with the Queensland Supreme Court, which forces the executor to prove the will in solemn form - a full court hearing where the will's validity is tested. Open this plan when your client suspects the deceased lacked mental capacity when the will was signed, was subjected to undue influence or fraud, or when the will has a formal defect.
Jurisdiction: Supreme Court of Queensland (Trial Division). The challenge is mounted by lodging a caveat in the Probate Registry, which converts the proceedings to a contested solemn form hearing. Forks address the two main grounds of challenge: lack of testamentary capacity, and undue influence or fraud.
The Process at a Glance: File a caveat in the Supreme Court Probate Registry before the executor obtains an informal grant. Serve the caveat on the executor. The executor must now apply to prove the will in solemn form. Gather evidence of the ground of challenge - medical records and specialist capacity assessments for incapacity claims, or witness statements and financial records for undue influence claims. Prepare and exchange affidavit evidence. Attend a directions hearing and agree on a timetable for discovery and trial. At trial, challenge the executor's evidence and call your own witnesses. If successful, the court refuses probate and the estate passes under an earlier will or on intestacy.
Use this fork when the specific ground of challenge is that the deceased lacked testamentary capacity at the time of signing the will - for example, because of dementia, a mental illness, intoxication, or a medical condition that affected their ability to understand what they were doing. This fork focuses on gathering and presenting the medical and lay evidence required to establish incapacity.
Use this fork when the ground of challenge is that someone pressured, manipulated, or deceived the deceased into making the will in their favour - for example, an opportunistic carer, a dominant family member, or a new partner who isolated the deceased from their family. Undue influence in the probate context requires proof of actual coercion, not merely persuasion or emotional pressure.
Key Legislation and Case Law: Succession Act 1981 (QLD) s 18 (informal wills) and s 8-11 (formal validity). Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (QLD) Chapter 15 (probate procedure). Testamentary capacity is assessed by reference to Banks v Goodfellow (1870) LR 5 QB 549 - the deceased must have understood the nature of making a will, the extent of their property, the claims of those who might expect to benefit, and must have been free from delusion. Undue influence in the testamentary context requires proof of coercion that overpowered the testator's free will: Re Edwards [2011] WASC 84.
* Disclaimer: We're nobody's lawyer, because we aren't lawyers. You are, so you know better than to take legal advice from an app. We also aren't accountants or dog trainers - just digital spirit guides taking zero liability for any of this. This site exists to gather the collective knowledge of practitioners like you. Verify everything and submit your feedback on the Solemn Form Probate (Caveator) matter plan to improve the playbook. THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE, it's a request for input.
This legal matter plan provides a structured workflow for TRUSTS_ESTATES cases, outlining the standard DISPUTE_LITIGATION process. Utilize these tracking templates to manage your legal cases efficiently.
Draft and file Supreme Court Form 104 Caveat in the probate registry.
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Ask in the practitioner Discord - edge cases, rule changes, and jurisdiction-specific nuances, all in one place.
File Form 8 Appearance after executor serves Notice to Caveator within strict 8-day deadline.
Draft and file Form 17 Defence to the executor's Statement of Claim.
Attend mediation to seek resolution before trial costs escalate.
Attend trial to contest validity of the will.