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Wills Act 1968
31BDistribution to issue
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31B Distribution to issue
(1) If a testator by will devises or bequeaths property to, or appoints
property in favour of, his or her issue then, unless a contrary intention
appears from the will or from evidence admitted under section 12B,
the testator is presumed to have intended that, subject to
subsection (2), the devise, bequest or appointment is to be distributed
in equal shares between only those issue of the testator who—
(a) are his or her nearest issue; and
(b) survive the testator for a period of 30 days (the specified period).
(2) If a person who is one of the nearest issue of the testator dies before
the end of the specified period, leaving issue who survive the testator
for the specified period (surviving issue), the testator shall be
presumed to have intended that any surviving issue of that deceased
nearest issue take, if more than 1 in equal shares, the share in the
testator’s estate that that deceased nearest issue would have taken had
he or she survived the testator for the specified period.
(3) Subsection (2) does not operate to entitle any surviving issue remoter
than the children of any deceased nearest issue to take unless the death
of a parent who would have taken as surviving issue occurred before
the end of the specified period, and then the testator shall be presumed
to have intended that the remoter issue take, if more than 1 in equal
shares, the share that that parent would have taken.