MAKING WILLS IN WAR TIME

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23400, 6 August 1941, Page 8

MAKING WILLS IN WAR TIME

POSITION OF ARMED FORCES

NO COMPULSION PLACED ON MEN

Although it is not considered that men of the Armed Forces should be compelled to make a will, every effort is made to induce them to do so, and facilities are provided for this purpose. A reply on these lines has been made by the Minister for Defence (the Hon. F. Jones) to a correspondent of “The Press,” who asks why all soldiers and airmen going overseas are not compelled to make a will. The correspondent, Mrs Goard, says that the mother is ignored by the law as it stands to-day. If the son is killed or dies overseas, without making a will, all property goes to the lather. That father may have deserted his family, leaving the mother to toil and slave for her children. She may never have received one penny from the father for the children’s support. Mrs Goard suggests that men going overseas should be compelled to make a will before leaving, and that the duty should be one lor the commanding officer and his staff. The Minister’s reply is as follows: “As far as the Army is concerned, it has been the practice in accordance with instructions issued to endeavour to arrange that the soldier either prepares a will, states that a will has already been prepared and in whose custody it has been placed, or makes a written statement if he does not desire to make a will. No soldier is compelled to make a will but facilities exist to enable him to do so if he so desires, and to assist him in this connexion the services of solicitors ai'e made available free of charge in all mobilisation camps. “There is available for every soldier a printed form of will as supplied by the Army Department, which complies with the requirements of the Wills Act arid where wills are made by the soldier and sent to the Army Department for custody every care of them is taken while he is on service overseas, "In regard to airmen, similar facilities are extended, A proper printed form is available and representatives of the Public Trust Office and of the various law societies visit the Air Force stations at certain agreed times for the purpose of will making. “It is not considered that personnel of the Armed Forces should be compelled to make a will, but every endeavour is made to induce all ranks of the advisability of doing this.”