South Australian Consolidated Acts

WILLS ACT 1936 - SECT 25A

25A—Interpretation and application

        (1)         In this Part—

"country" means any place or group of places having its own law of nationality (including the Commonwealth of Australia and its territories);

"internal law" in relation to any country or place means the law which would apply in a case where no question of the law in force in any other country or place arose;

"place" means any territory (including a State or Territory of the Commonwealth of Australia).

        (2)         Where under this Act the internal law in force in any country or place is to be applied in the case of a will, but there are in force in that country or place two or more systems of internal law relating to the formal validity of wills, the system to be applied must be ascertained as follows:

            (a)         if there is in force throughout the country or place a rule indicating which of those systems can properly be applied in the case in question, that rule must be followed; or

            (b)         if there is no such rule, the system will be that with which the testator was most closely connected at the relevant time and for this purpose the relevant time is the time of the testator's death where the matter is to be determined by reference to circumstances prevailing at his or her death and the time of execution of the will in any other case.

        (3)         In determining for the purposes of this Act whether or not the execution of a will conformed to a particular law, regard must be had to the formal requirements of that law at the time of execution, but this does not prevent account being taken of an alteration of law affecting wills executed at that time if the alteration enables the will to be treated as properly executed.

        (4)         This Part does not apply to a will of a testator who died before the commencement of the Wills Act Amendment Act 1966 and does apply to a will of a testator who dies after that commencement whether the will was executed before or after that commencement.

        (5)         Where (whether in pursuance of this Act or not) a law in force outside the State falls to be applied in relation to a will, any requirement of that law whereby special formalities are to be observed by testators answering a particular description, or witnesses to the execution of a will are to possess certain qualifications, will be treated, notwithstanding any rule of that law to the contrary, as a formal requirement only.