Making a Will in Australia: Formalities by State and Territory

A valid will in Australia must be in writing, signed by the will-maker, and witnessed by two people present together, but the exact rules, minimum age, and how far a court can excuse a defective document differ by state and territory.

The Core Formalities Every Jurisdiction Shares

Despite eight separate Wills Acts, the formal requirements for a valid will in Australia are broadly consistent. The will must be in writing (which can include typed or printed text, not only handwriting), it must be signed by the will-maker, or by another person in the will-maker's presence and at their direction, and it must be signed in the presence of two witnesses who are both present at the same time and who then also sign the will in the will-maker's presence. The will-maker must also have testamentary capacity, meaning they understand they are making a will, broadly understand the extent of their property, and are aware of the people who might reasonably expect to benefit from their estate. Meeting these formalities is what generally lets a will proceed straight to probate without needing to rely on a court's dispensing power, covered below. A will can also be handwritten entirely by the will-maker in some circumstances, sometimes called a holograph will, though this is not a separate legal category in most Australian jurisdictions; a handwritten will still has to meet the same signing and witnessing formalities as a typed one to avoid relying on the dispensing power.

Minimum Age to Make a Will

The general minimum age to make a valid will across Australia is 18. Most jurisdictions carve out exceptions that let a younger person make a will in specific circumstances, most commonly where the minor is or has been married, or where a court or tribunal authorises a will for a minor, typically after being satisfied the document reflects the minor's genuine wishes. The exact wording and scope of these exceptions is set separately in each jurisdiction's Wills Act, so a will made by a minor should be checked against the specific state or territory's provision rather than assumed to follow a single national rule. Outside these exceptions, a will made by a person under the minimum age is generally not valid, regardless of how clearly it records their wishes, which is a separate issue from the informal will dispensing power covered later in this article.

Witnessing Rules and Beneficiary Witnesses

Two witnesses, both present together when the will-maker signs, is the standard rule in every jurisdiction. A person who witnesses a will and is also given a gift under it creates a separate problem: in most jurisdictions, a gift to an attesting witness (or their spouse) is void unless there were enough other, independent witnesses, or a court is satisfied the witness did not exert undue influence. The will itself generally remains valid; it is usually only that witness's own gift that is at risk. The safest practice in every jurisdiction is to use two witnesses who have no interest in the estate at all.

The Informal Will Dispensing Power

Every Australian jurisdiction gives its Supreme Court power to recognise a document that does not meet the formal signing and witnessing requirements as a valid will anyway, commonly called the informal will dispensing power, provided the court is satisfied the deceased intended the document to be their will. This has become increasingly relevant as informal documents, including unsent text messages, notes on a phone, and unsigned drafts, have been put before courts in several jurisdictions. The standard of proof required is not the same everywhere.

Tasmania's beyond reasonable doubt standard, ordinarily associated with criminal law, is a deliberately higher bar than the civil balance-of-probabilities test every other jurisdiction applies, which makes an informal document considerably harder to have accepted as a valid will in Tasmania than anywhere else in the country.

What Counts as a Document

Most dispensing power provisions were written broadly enough to cover any document the deceased intended as their will, but the Northern Territory's provision is unusually explicit: section 10 of the Wills Act 2000 (NT) expressly extends to electronic records and to sound or image recordings, not only paper documents. Even where a jurisdiction's own provision is not as explicit, courts elsewhere in Australia have still been willing to consider non-traditional documents under their own general dispensing power wording. None of this changes the safer, cheaper and more certain course in every jurisdiction, which is to make a will that meets the formal requirements in the first place, rather than relying on a court to recognise something else after death.

Getting a Will Prepared

Preparing a will is not something this guide, or any general information resource, can safely do for a specific person. Each jurisdiction has its own prescribed formalities and its own approach to complicating factors such as blended families, business assets, overseas property or a beneficiary who lacks capacity, and getting the wording wrong can create exactly the kind of dispute covered in Contesting a Will in Australia. Every state and territory's Public Trustee offers will-preparation services, often at low or no cost for a simple will, and solicitors in every jurisdiction prepare wills as a standard part of practice. Neither this article, nor any document generator, is a substitute for that jurisdiction-specific advice.

Updating or Revoking a Will

A will can generally be revoked or changed at any time while the will-maker has capacity, either by making a new will that expressly revokes earlier ones, by a formal document of revocation, or, in most jurisdictions, by the will-maker deliberately destroying the will with the intention of revoking it. Marriage and divorce also affect a will's validity in every jurisdiction, though the exact effect, whether a marriage automatically revokes an earlier will, or a divorce automatically revokes a gift to a former spouse, differs by state and territory, so a will should generally be reviewed after any major change in relationship status, along with the appointment of an enduring power of attorney and, where relevant, enduring guardianship to cover decisions made before death.

This article provides general legal information about the formal requirements for making a will in Australia. It is not legal advice and does not take into account your individual circumstances, and it does not provide will-drafting services or document templates. Formal requirements, minimum age exceptions and the informal will dispensing power differ between New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. This information was last verified on 20 July 2026. For help preparing a will, consult a legal practitioner admitted in the relevant state or territory, or that jurisdiction’s Public Trustee.