Succession Act 1965 section 81

Will not void on account of incompetency of witness

Section 81 confirms that a will remains valid even if a witness to its signing turns out to be, or later becomes, legally incompetent to give evidence about the signing.

• A will is not invalidated merely because an attesting witness was incompetent at the time of signing.
• Equally, a will is not invalidated if an attesting witness becomes incompetent at any point after the signing.
• Incompetence here means being legally unable to be admitted as a witness to prove that the will was properly executed.
• The validity of the will itself is entirely unaffected by the witness's competence or lack thereof.