Wills & Estates

TATE PLANNING

The Wills & Estates Team provides the following services:

  • Estate Planning
  • Estate Administration
  • Estate Disputes

Estate Planning

A professionally prepared will is an investment for your beneficiaries, eliminating the risk of your estate being dissipated by legal costs that may arise as a result of a poorly prepared will. We provide full Estate Planning services as set out below:

  • Basic, Standard & Complex Wills
    • Testamentary Trusts (To maximise the tax benefits to your beneficiaries)
    • Mutual Wills (To ensure that your estate eventually passes to your children or grandchildren)
    • Special Disability Trust (Tax and Centrelink concessions for the severely disabled)
  • Enduring Power of Attorney
  • Advance Health Directive (“Living Will”)
  • Self-Managed Super Fund
  • Binding Death Nomination for Superannuation
  • Outcalls (e.g. to home or hospital)
  • Safe Custody (We can hold your will and other documents, free of charge)

Estate Administration

 We provide full Estate Administration services, such as:

  • Probate
  • Letters of Administration
  • Transferring Land from the Name of a Deceased Person
  • Claiming Superannuation
  • Acting as Executor (appointed by your will)
  • Advising Executors and Administrators
  • Fully Administering an Estate
  • Guardianship & Administration Tribunal

Estate Disputes

We represent claimants and respondents in all types of estate disputes. There are 3 main ways a deceased estate can be challenged:

  • Capacity: If the deceased lacked mental capacity to make a will
  • Coercion: If the deceased was unduly pressured into making a will
  • Provision: If the deceased had a spouse (including de facto), child/ren (including adult child/ren and step-child/ren) or other dependant/s, and if the distribution under the will does not adequately provide for them, they are entitled to take court action to seek further provision from the estate. Claims for further provision usually proceed on a “no win, no fee” or deferred-fee basis, and the legal fees are usually paid by the estate.