Wills commonly make provisions for children without specifying
who is a child. This may seem to be an obvious answer but legally
there are different implications for ex-nuptial children, adopted
children, and step-children.
EX-NUPTIAL CHILDREN
Children born outside of marriage (also known as ex-nuptial
children) have the same rights as children born of legal marriage.
The intestacy laws provide that where the deceased was in a de
facto relationship or a domestic relationship at the date of
his/her death, a child of the deceased includes:
- A child born as a result of sexual relations between the
parties to the relationship,
- A child adopted by both parties,
- In the case of a de facto relationship between a man and a
woman, a child of the woman of whom the man is the father or of
whom the man is presumed, by virtue of the Status of Children
Act 1996, to be the father,
