Annual will drafting and estate planning day

Ensure your documents are legally correct and clearly written learning how recent Family Provision Applications may have been accommodated for at the planning stage. Starting with the structure a will, having particular regard to the real-world issues of capacity, you will more adequately safeguard against an FPA by understanding the proven pressure points in recent case law concerning:

• section 18: informal wills and the testamentary intention test
• section 21: statutory wills for persons lacking capacity
• the tests for capacity and your obligations
• how to distinguish and dealing with estate and non-estate assets
• circumstances where family provision risk has arisen; and
• the practical lessons from recent family provision cases.

Working through 3 hypothetical scenarios, attendees will be assisted to identify the information needed, options available and methods of drafting an estate plan with up-to-date consideration of superannuation and taxation, in plain English, with particular regard to:

• setting out the essentials of superannuation in estate planning
• examples of how to draft binding death benefit nominations
• highlighting the important parts of superannuation death benefit cases
• how issues of life insurance can be accommodated for in your plan; and
• impacts of distributions from a deceased estate on disabled beneficiaries.

• new reinforcements for entitlements of a disabled beneficiary
• how amendments to the Family Law Act in 2000 are now impacting on family provision cases where pre-nuptial agreements are involved
• trends noted from the ballooning number of cases involving estrangement
• how costs have become a big issue for failed applications; and
• new developments in the provision for de facto widows.

Probate and the administration of estates have produced a number of recent difficulties for estates lawyers tasked with unraveling old trusts. The new parameters concerning what trustees can and can’t do from a compliance point of view is combined with examples of what is being found in old documents, the associated potential for litigation, and the methods of approach that you may consider taking to minimize wastage with litigation. Insight on this interesting area focuses on:

• read the deed! Every deed is different, never assume you know what is there (beware of those not from around here)
• control of trusts: who can do what to whom, when and how and what you can do about it
• succession of control of trusts: why, how and traps for young players
• beneficiaries rights – yes even though the trustee has an absolute discretion beneficiaries do still have some
• your roadmap for changing trust powers or beneficiaries without going off the cliff
• removing a trustee: how hard is it?
• rule against perpetuities and trusts as beneficiaries what really is the rule?.