Elder law & succession: November 2024
Decisions on severance by divorce, the essential validity of a will, payment of estate debts, and informal wills and costs. By DARRYL BROWNE.Key decisions Re…
Elder law & succession: August 2024
Recent decisions involving mutual wills agreement, the validity of witness gifts, executor duties and elder financial abuse. By DARRYL BROWNE.Key decisions Re Miglic [2024] VSC…
Keeping it in the family: self-dealing is as dangerous as it sounds
The rules around self-dealing can complicate seemingly simple sales to executors of an estate: solicitors have a crucial role to play at all stages.Snapshot A…
Elder law & succession: June 2024
Recent decisions involving informal wills, elder financial abuse and proprietary estoppel. By DARRYL BROWNE.Key decisions Chalik v Chalik [2024] NSWSC 116 (Essential validity of will)…
To act or not to act? That is the question
Recent cases and reform show the importance of deciding whether or not to act for a client, especially for probate solicitors.Snapshot Recent changes to the…
Trouble at the bank of mum and dad
Gift or loan? Families can be litigious when they fall out but good practice at the outset can keep it out of court.Snapshot With the…
Estate and family law planning for the ‘great wealth transfer’
Lawyers are seeing an unprecedented demand from clients for wealth protection plans to ensure their legacy is carried out upon death.Snapshot Wealth protection in romantic…
What does it mean to ‘survive’?
Practitioners will be familiar with the words ‘survive me’ in wills, but the word ‘survive’ has two different meanings.Snapshot When dealing with a gift in…
Will preparation and joint tenancies
Courts have held that a solicitor’s role can extend to advising on and severing joint tenancies where applicable.Snapshot Joint tenancy ownership may prevent the transfer…
Exploring the legal implications of electronic wills
Is an electronic will created on an iPad and executed using an iPad pen valid?Snapshot A recent Supreme Court of South Australia decision has examined…
Elder law & succession: November 2023
Reporting and analysis of the latest judgments and news in wills & estates and elder law. By DARRYL BROWNE.Key decisions Edwards v Edwards [2023] NSWSC…