Heffernan v Innes

In the matter of Heffernan v Innes, the dispute revolves around the validity of a handwritten, unsigned, and undated document that was purportedly intended by the deceased to be his Will. The matter was heard in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The defendants questioned whether the deceased had testamentary capacity due to alcohol consumption, but the court found that there was no evidence of a temporal link between when the informal document was written and the alcohol consumed. The court was satisfied that the deceased knew and approved the contents of the document and intended it to be his Will.

The legal issues before the court included whether the informal document could be considered the deceased's Will, whether the deceased had testamentary capacity, and whether an earlier Will existed that had allegedly been removed from the deceased’s home by the father of the plaintiff. The defendants argued that the unfound Will existed and was removed by the plaintiff’s father, but the court was not satisfied with this claim. The court considered the presumption of destruction of the unfound Will animo revocandi, which had not been rebutted by the defendants.

The court concluded that the informal document was intended to be the deceased's Will, and the presumption of destruction of the unfound Will had not been rebutted. The alternative claim by the plaintiff that the deceased died intestate was not upheld as the court found that the informal document was intended to be the Will. The court made orders accordingly, recognising the informal document as the Will of the deceased.