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Unsent Text On Mobile Counts As a Will, Australian Court Finds (abc.net.au)
A court in Australia has accepted an unsent, draft text message on a dead man's mobile phone as an official will. The 55-year-old man had composed a text message addressed to his brother, in which he gave "all that I have" to his brother and nephew. From a report: The Supreme Court in Brisbane heard the 55-year-old took his own life in October 2016, after composing a text addressed to his brother, which indicated his brother and nephew should "keep all that I have," because he was unhappy with this wife. A friend found the text message in the drafts folder of the man's mobile phone, which was found near his body. The unsent message detailed how to access the man's bank account details and where he wanted his ashes to be buried.
He found an unsent text message in the drafts folder of the phone of his relative he found dead before anyone else. Totally doesn't seem self serving at all! /sarcasm
Guys, do all yourselves a favor to avoid this familial post life bickering: get a living will that outlines your last will and testament as well as what to do if you become a vegetable!
My problem with this is that the text was unsent and still a draft, yet he took his own life at a time of his own choosing.
So, it's likely he wasn't really sure he wanted to do this, but was only pondering it... unless he didn't have signal where he was. Some people right mad letters just to blow off steam but never send them. The whole point of text messages is to send a communication, not create documents on your device. There are default apps for that too.
Had the text been sent, that'd be different. Was there cellular reception at this location?
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
The purpose of having a signed and witnessed will is proof that it was authored or approved by the individual. Even with an unwitnessed handwritten will you can authenticate the author from handwriting analysis. How can this be accomplished for a document typed on a Smartphone, when anyone could have picked the phone up and typed it in post hoc?