“Unsent text counts as will,” Australian court

A dead man’s unsent text message leaving his home and pension to his brother rather than his wife and son and signed off with a smiley face emoji has been ruled a legitimate will by an Australian court. The draft message was found on his phone after he took his own life in October 2016, aged 55. “The informal nature of the text does not exclude it from being sufficient to represent the deceased’s testamentary intentions,“ said Justice Susan Brown when handing down her decision at the Brisbane supreme court.