Succession law conference 2010 – Day 2

Friday 5–Saturday 6 November 2010, 8:50am–5:10pm,9:00am–3:00pm
Hyatt Regency Coolum
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Day One DVD (Resource code: 101105AD)
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Day Two DVD (Resource code: 101105BD)
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Overview

Practical Legal Ethics Practice Management & Business Skills Professional Skills 10 CPD points

Tackling the big issues currently faced in succession law practice, this conference will provide practitioners with the tools to overcome obstacles encountered in the wills and estates such as, rural estate planning, superannuation, the QCAT jurisdiction and much more.

Course code: 101105

4.5 CPD points
9:00am–10:00am
Panel Discussion: Succession law dilemmas? Bring yours to the panel

This is your opportunity to have your succession law dilemmas discussed anonymously by your peers. Concerns and ethical
questions addressed by the panel are actual problems encountered by you and your fellow delegates. We’ll send you an
email survey, seeking dilemmas you face in your succession law practice and your response will form the basis of this
session.

  • Speaker: Richard Neal – Partner, Teece Hodgson Ward (Sydney) and Accredited Specialist - Wills & Estates (NSW)
  • Speaker: Tim Whitney – Consultant, McCullough Robertson Lawyers and Accredited Specialist - Succession Law (Qld)
  • Chair: Doug Murphy SC – Barrister, Queensland Bar
10:00am–11:00am
Panel Discussion: Answering your costs concerns
Practical Legal Ethics
  • providing a refresher on the fundamentals of costs agreements in non-litigious work such as enduring power of attorney
    and will draf ting together with estate administration
  • outlining the consequences of not having an agreement
  • understanding the function of the court scales and uplif t of scale items
  • exploring the issues of estimates
  • identifying the consequences of having no estimate or inaccurate estimates for litigious and non-litigious work
  • of fering a guide on costs for stages of work in a family provision application
  • rights of beneficiaries to object to administration costs
  • Speaker: Bob Brittan – Manager - Complaints, Officer of the Legal Services Commissioner
  • Speaker: Greg Ryan – Principal, Greg Ryan Cost Consultant Pty Ltd
  • Speaker: Gary Lanham – Special Counsel, Minter Ellison and Accredited Specialist - Succession Law (Qld)
11:00am–11:20am
Morning Tea
Stream 3A
11:20am–11:50am
Topical ethical issues for succession lawyers
Practical Legal Ethics

Presented in two parts, this session considers disputed wills and executors’ commissions.

  1. Disputed wills
    In addition to providing practical pointers for solicitors who prepare a will which is later disputed, this session discusses:
    • some benefits of providing a statement of interest to the parties when a will is disputed
    • seeking guidance from English decisions – Larke v Nugus (2000) WTLR 1033; Jerome & Sheppard v Sellars [2007] EWHC 1366
    • strategies and tools which can be implemented to manage cases involving a disputed will
  2. Solicitor executors seeking commissions
    Considering the fiduciary duty owed by a solicitor acting as an executor seeking payment of an executor’s commission, this section will look at:
    • drawing a distinction between legal fees and commission
    • the decisions of Walker v. Clem D’Alessandro (as executor of the estate of Ivy Rosalind Mary Pump deceased) [2010] VSC 15 and In the Matter of Zsuzanna Gray [2010] VSC 173.
  • Speaker: Stafford Shepherd – Senior Ethics Solicitor, Queensland Law Society
11:50am–12:55pm
Funeral arrangements – who has the right to decide?
Professional Skills

This session identifies what rights attach to variou s
stakeholders in the process of making funeral
arrangements and the contrasting law associated with
cremation and ashes.

  • Funeral arrangements
    • conflicts associated with final disposal
    • the rights of various stakeholders
    • control of the plot and headstone
    • Smith v Tamworth Cit y Council (1997) 41 NSWLR 680
      • Justice Young’s 15 key points
  • Cremations
    • how the Cremations Act 2003 alters the common law principles related to final disposal
    • differences between New South Wales and Queensland
    • ownership of the ashes
  • Speaker: Christine Smyth – Partner, Robbins Watson Solicitors and Accredited Specialist - Succession Law (Qld)
  • Chair: Judy Hayward – Principal, Hayward & Co Lawyers and Accredited Specialist - Succession Law (Qld)
Stream 3B
11:20am–11:50am
Assisting clients in navigating the QCAT jurisdiction – short presentations and interactive panel discussion

What happens after the adult dies?

  • issues for administrators and attorneys af ter the death of a
    principal – tips and traps
  • who can give an administrator or an attorney a legal
    discharge – if required and from what?
  • what if probate is not required to administer the late
    principal’s estate?
  • records and audits – s 122 Powers of Attorney Act 1998
  • irregularities with the late principal’s finances – duties of the
    legal personal representative and compensation orders (if
    appropriate) – sections 106 and 107 Powers of Attorney Act
    1998
  • Speaker: Glenn Dickson – Barrister, Queensland Bar
11:50am–12:20pm
Difficult and unusual decisions for administrators and attorneys – protecting the adult and the decision maker
Practice Management & Business Skills
  • sex, drugs and Irish music for attorneys and administrators
  • dealing with relations – the good, the bad and the mad
  • conflict transactions – what conflict?
  • gif ts – including early distribution of the adult’s estate
  • wills, valuations and other confidential documents
  • the prudent person rule versus the principle of substituted judgment (managing ‘dubious’ assets)
  • Speaker: Rod Murphy – Senior Legal Counsel, Perpetual
12:20pm–12:55pm
Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal v the Guardianship and Administration Tribunal – what has changed?

Administrator and enduring power of attorney issues

  • legal representation at QCAT
  • appeals
  • witnessing an enduring power of attorney (EPA)
  • commencement of EPA
  • charging and conflict clauses
  • maintaining records of financial transactions
  • Speaker: Les Clarkson – Part-time member, Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal
  • Chair: Mark Crofton – Official solicitor, Public Trustee of Queensland
1:00pm–2:00pm
Death and division and the family farm
  • family provision applications in rural estates
  • promises, representations and expectations of inheritance – a dif ferent approach or more of the same for farming families?
  • the testator’s dilemma: the family partnership and familial parting – to divide the farm or go back on your word?
  • the surviving spouse:
    • the widow of a long marriage
    • the need to balance the sense of entitlement and moral claims of sons and daughters assumed from decades of personal exertion: is maintaining the integrity of the farm a paramount consideration in the exercise of judicial discretion?
  • at mediation – appropriate but dif ferent preparation to secure the best outcome
  • water rights – the new trump card?
  • the patriarch versus the matriarch: Who has the paramount obligation and claim?
  • Speaker: Doug Murphy SC – Barrister, Queensland Bar
  • Chair: Peter Wilson – Consultant, MPN Lawyers and Accredited Specialist – Succession Law (Qld)
2:00pm–3:00pm
Lunch and close of conference

Featured Speakers

  • Caite Brewer
    Barrister, Queensland Bar and Accredited Specialist - Succession Law (Qld)
  • Bob Brittan
    Manager - Complaints, Officer of the Legal Services Commissioner
  • Matthew Burke
    Director, Envision Partners Accountants and Certified Practising Accountants
  • Rebecca Burness
    Senior Associate, de Groots Wills & Estate Lawyers and Accredited Specialist - Succession Law (Qld)
  • David Busoli
    Manager, Cavendish Superannuation Pty Ltd
  • Les Clarkson
    Part-time member, Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal
  • Angela Cornford-Scott
    Director, de Groots Wills & Estates Lawyers and Accredited Specialist - Succession Law (Qld)
  • Mark Crofton
    Official solicitor, Public Trustee of Queensland
  • Glenn Dickson
    Barrister, Queensland Bar
  • Russell Drummond
    Partner, Dean Kath Kohler and Accredited Specialist - Succession Law (Qld)
  • Lyn Formica
    Director, McPherson Super Consulting Pty Ltd
  • Paul Gleeson
    Principal, Gleeson Lawyers and Accredited Specialist - Succession Law (Qld)
  • Paul Green
    Director - Forensic, Vincents Chartered Accountants
  • Zinta Harris
    Principal, Harris Law and dual Accredited Specialist - Business Law (Qld) and Succession Law (Qld)
  • Judy Hayward
    Principal, Hayward & Co Lawyers and Accredited Specialist - Succession Law (Qld)
  • Michael Klatt
    Partner, Mullins Lawyers and Accredited Specialist - Succession Law (Qld)
  • Gary Lanham
    Special Counsel, Minter Ellison and Accredited Specialist - Succession Law (Qld)
  • Betty Leung
    Senior Estate Planning Lawyer, ANZ Trustees Limited and Accredited Specialist - Succession Law (Qld)
  • The Honourable Justice Duncan McMeekin
    Supreme Court of Queensland
  • Dr Dan Morgan
    Barrister, Queensland Bar
  • Doug Murphy SC
    Barrister, Queensland Bar
  • Rod Murphy
    Senior Legal Counsel, Perpetual
  • Richard Neal
    Partner, Teece Hodgson Ward (Sydney) and Accredited Specialist - Wills & Estates (NSW)
  • Lee Nevison
    Barrister, Queensland Bar
  • Greg Ryan
    Principal, Greg Ryan Cost Consultant Pty Ltd
  • Michele Sheehan
    Principal, Sheehan & Co and enTrust Law; and dual Accredited Specialist - Family Law and Succession Law (Qld)
  • Stafford Shepherd
    Senior Ethics Solicitor, Queensland Law Society
  • Tracy Skellern-Smith
    Legal Risk Solicitor, Lexon Insurance
  • Mark Slaven
    Deputy Registrar, Suprememe Court of Queensland
  • Fred Smith
    Principal, McInnes Wilson Lawyers
  • Christine Smyth
    Partner, Robbins Watson Solicitors and Accredited Specialist - Succession Law (Qld)
  • Rebecca Treston
    Barrister, Queensland Bar
  • Scott Whitla
    Partner, McCullough Robertson and Accredited Specialist - Succession Law (Qld)
  • Tim Whitney
    Consultant, McCullough Robertson Lawyers and Accredited Specialist - Succession Law (Qld)
  • Peter Wilson
    Consultant, MPN Lawyers and Accredited Specialist – Succession Law (Qld)
  • Dr John de Groot
    President, Queensland Law Society, Special Counsel, de Groots Wills & Estate Lawyers, Accredited Specialist - Succession Law (Qld) and Chairman of the Queensland Law Society's Succession Law Committee

Event Sponsors

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