In spite of what we might think about the influence of digital technology on our daily lives, the fact of the matter is, people are embracing it not only for trivialities like what they ate for dinner or how they feel about their team winning or losing at the football, it is being used for more serious matters like writing a will.

Such a will has been contested in the Queensland Supreme Court. Reporter Michaela Whitbourn writes in Where there’s a will there’s an unsent text with a smiley face (SMH 10.1017 page 1), that Justice Brown ruled that the text message was a valid will cutting out a man’s wife and son.

“The 55-year old man took his life in October last year and the unsent text was found on his phone the following day.”   Justice Susan Brown went on to say that: “the informal nature of the text did not exclude it from being treated as representing the man’s intentions.”

The courts in recent years have grappled with unusual cases involving informal wills. In 2015, the NSW Supreme Court ruled a video will was valid and displaced a written will made just two days earlier.

For the full story go to: http://www.smh.com.au/national/unsent-text-message-with-a-smiley-face-counted-as-a-will-court-rules-20171010-gyxzsf.html