What if a will omitted to name an executor?

What if a will omitted to name an executor?

What if the document is not in the formal sense a will but rather is a direction in the form of a letter?

In the 2019 South Australian case of the Estate of Drummond, the deceased nominated his neighbours as beneficiaries and stressed that they should receive his estate “and no one else”. The neighbours had taken the deceased to medical appointments and generally looked after him. The deceased was quite clear in conversation with them before he died that he had no money to make a will but wanted these neighbours to benefit taking his estate and not his cousins nor the government. This was his last wish.

The court agreed that the intention expressed by the deceased in letter form was sufficient to be considered a valid will.

Each case will depend on its own facts and the surrounding circumstances.