Dotto is not a lawyer and can’t give legal advice. This is a concept website · Enquire about this domain

Last Will and Testament

Thirty days, written into six Acts.

A gift in a will meets a short clock after the will-maker’s death. Six of the Acts set it at thirty days, in sentences that differ in small ways. Drawn here to scale, each with the subsections that say when a will changes it.

Thirty days in the Wills ActsDrawn to scale

From the death

New South Wales30 days1

Queensland30 days2

Victoria30 days3

Tasmania30 days4

Australian Capital Territory30 days5

Northern Territory30 days6

015304560 days

1
New South Wales · 30 days after the death
If a disposition of property is made to a person who dies within 30 days after the testator’s death, or, if that or another period for survival appears in the will, within the period appearing in the will, the will is to take effect as if the person had died immediately before the testator.
Succession Act 2006 (NSW), s 35(1)
This section does not apply if a contrary intention appears in the will.
Succession Act 2006 (NSW), s 35(2)
A general requirement or condition that a beneficiary survive the testator does not indicate a contrary intention for the purposes of this section.
Succession Act 2006 (NSW), s 35(3)
2
Queensland · 30 days after the death
If a disposition of property is made to a person who dies within 30 days after the testator’s death, the will takes effect as if the person had died immediately before the testator.
Succession Act 1981 (Qld), s 33B(1)
Subsection (1) does not apply if a contrary intention appears in the will.
Succession Act 1981 (Qld), s 33B(2)
A general requirement or condition that a beneficiary survive the testator is not a contrary intention.
Succession Act 1981 (Qld), s 33B(3)
3
Victoria · 30 days after the death
If a disposition is made to a person who dies within 30 days after the death of the testator, the will is to take effect as if the person had died before the testator.
Wills Act 1997 (Vic), s 39(1)
Subsection (1) does not apply if a contrary intention appears in the will.
Wills Act 1997 (Vic), s 39(2)
A general requirement or condition that a beneficiary survive the testator is not a contrary intention for the purpose of this section.
Wills Act 1997 (Vic), s 39(3)
4
Tasmania · 30 days after the death
If a disposition is made in a will to a person who dies within 30 days after the death of the testator, the will is to take effect as if the person had died immediately before the testator.
Wills Act 2008 (Tas), s 49(1)
This section does not apply if a contrary intention appears in the will.
Wills Act 2008 (Tas), s 49(2)
A general requirement or condition that a beneficiary survive the testator does not indicate a contrary intention for the purpose of this section.
Wills Act 2008 (Tas), s 49(3)
5
Australian Capital Territory · 30 days after the death
(b) the person does not survive the deceased person by 30 days.
Wills Act 1968 (ACT), s 31C(1)(b)
The person is taken to have predeceased the deceased person and the devise, bequest, appointment, power or entitlement lapses, unless the contrary intention appears from the will, or from evidence admitted under section 12B.
Wills Act 1968 (ACT), s 31C(2)
However, subsection (2) does not apply if the effect of the subsection is that the deceased person’s estate would pass to the Territory under the Administration and Probate Act 1929, section 49CA (How distribution to the Territory is made).
Wills Act 1968 (ACT), s 31C(3)
A general requirement or condition in a will that a beneficiary survive the testator must not be taken to be an expression of a contrary intention for this section.
Wills Act 1968 (ACT), s 31C(4)
6
Northern Territory · 30 days after the death
If a testator makes a disposition to a person who dies within 30 days after the death of the testator, the testator's will is to take effect as if the person had died immediately before the testator.
Wills Act 2000 (NT), s 34(1)
Subsection (1) does not apply if a contrary intention appears in the will.
Wills Act 2000 (NT), s 34(2)
For the avoidance of doubt, a general requirement or condition that a beneficiary survive the testator does not indicate a contrary intention for the purposes of this section.
Wills Act 2000 (NT), s 34(3)
·
South Australia, where there is no will
For the purposes of this Part, a person will not be regarded as having survived another person unless— (a) the person survives the other person by at least 30 days; or
Succession Act 2023 (SA), s 101(4)

Reading the rows

Each row is one Act’s thirty days, counted from the death. The bars match because the number matches; the words under them do not, and each note quotes them with the subsections that follow.

Some of the sentences name a period a will sets for itself, and some say what a contrary intention in the will does. Those parts are quoted under the row they belong to, and the link under each opens the whole section.

The Acts with no row

Western Australia’s Wills Act was searched for a period like this one for a gift in a will, and holds none. South Australia’s Succession Act sets thirty days only for the Part about estates with no will, quoted last under the drawing.

Where the words come from

Succession Act 2006 (NSW)Current version, read 15 October 2026. NSW Legislation, Parliamentary Counsel's Office, CC BY 4.0
Succession Act 1981 (Qld)Current version, read 15 October 2026. Queensland Legislation, Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel, CC BY 4.0
Wills Act 1997 (Vic)Authorised Version No. 036, read 15 October 2026. Victorian Legislation, Office of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel
Wills Act 2008 (Tas)Version current from 5 November 2021, read 15 October 2026. Tasmanian Legislation, Office of Parliamentary Counsel
Wills Act 1968 (ACT)Republication No 22, 23 February 2026, read 15 October 2026. ACT Legislation Register, Parliamentary Counsel's Office
Wills Act 2000 (NT)Reprint as in force at 1 January 2022, read 15 October 2026. Northern Territory Legislation, Office of the Parliamentary Counsel
Succession Act 2023 (SA)Version 1.1.2025, read 15 October 2026. South Australian Legislation, Attorney-General's Department

Every sentence in quotation marks on this page is copied from the Act or rules named beneath it. Acts change; the link opens the version in force today.