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.
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.
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.
Elder law & succession: June 2024
Recent decisions involving informal wills, elder financial abuse and proprietary estoppel. By DARRYL BROWNE.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Will preparation and joint tenancies
Courts have held that a solicitor’s role can extend to advising on and severing joint tenancies where applicable.
Exploring the legal implications of electronic wills
Is an electronic will created on an iPad and executed using an iPad pen valid?
Elder law & succession: November 2023
Reporting and analysis of the latest judgments and news in wills & estates and elder law. By DARRYL BROWNE.