FACTS: John injured his back in a car accident. He was off work for a month and couldn't return to his former line of work as a tradesman. He had heard stories he didn't like about personal injuries lawyers so decided to bring his claim against the CTP insurer himself. He found forms on-line and [...]
FACTS: The deceased (Monica) had children from various marriages including her final marriage to Sam. When Monica and Sam married Sam had brought most of the assets to the marriage. Sam and Monica met later in life and had no children together. Sam had 2 children whilst Monica had 6. Sam passed first. At the [...]
Facts: The adult son applied to the Court in relation to his mother’s Will. His mother was still alive but had lost testamentary capacity. He was asking the Court to change the Will to a Testamentary Discretionary Trust Will (sometimes called a ‘Tax-effective Will’). The court refused to change the Will because it heard evidence [...]
FACTS: George and his brother were executors for their mother's (Camilla's) estate (their father had died years before - he was Camilla's second husband). George and his brother administered the estate themselves, including getting probate. After they did that they distributed the funds from the estate to the various beneficiaries (which included other siblings, grandchildren [...]
FACTS: Single father (Paul) faxed his solicitor with instructions for his Will. The fax detailed that his beneficiaries were to be his 2 children, whom he named in the fax. The solicitor spent very little time on the file. He drafted a Will which had a number of errors. The most significant error was that [...]
FACTS: Deceased had one child daughter, aged approx. 50 at her death and 2 adopted grandchildren. In her Will she left $50,000 to her daughter, $150,000 to each of her adopted grandchildren & $150,000 to a charity. She was of the view that her daughter didn’t need the money because she and her husband owned [...]
FACTS: Deceased left child (Sarah) gift in Willl that was referrable to the price of her home. The deceased suffered from dementia before she died. 2 of her other children (Mary & Joseph) acting under her enduring power sold her house before she died. After her death Mary & Joseph refused to recognise the gift [...]
FACTS: Bradley passed away at 41 with no Will. He had no wife or children and his parents were separated. At the time he set up his superannuation he noted on the form that he wanted any death benefit to go to his mother. He did not take the step of making a binding death [...]
