Deceased Estates & Winding-up
I received an enquiry from lady whose father passed away 5 years ago, and despite obtaining probate nearly 5 years ago, the executor has done much nothing to wind up the estate. In particular, the executor has failed to lodge a transmission application to transfer the father’s house to his name, and has left it […]
Deceased Estates
We were instructed to seek letters of administration in favour of two sisters of a lady who died about a year ago now, leaving no Will. The deceased left behind a husband, but no kids, so her estate is shared roughly equally between her husband and her siblings. Our clients were happy for the husband to […]
Tax Effective Wills
We’ve been preparing a few wills of late. One set of clauses we are including deal with superannuation proceeds that are paid into the estate, which gives more flexibility to ensure they go to the intended persons. In one instance, we ensured minimal tax by splitting the sum of the Super Proceeds and the Residuary […]
Case Summary Mcgeough v Ian Torrington Blatchford as administrator of the estate of Margaret Mary Mcgeough [2019] WASC 454
This court case illustrates why these sorts of family provision matters should settle, particularly for a small estate. The first 132 paragraphs deal with the facts. From that, the Judge concluded that adequate provision had not been made for the reasons given in paragraphs 133 to 142. Note that the test is not limited to […]
Do you have a Will?
The results of a poll that I looked at last night estimated that that 55% of the adults in Western Australia have no Will, or are not sure if they have a Will. Of those adults without a Will, only about 9% will have one by the time they pass away, leaving half of the […]
Wills with Tax Benefits
We have been finalising wills for a couple with a large combined estate, however, the wife will not have much in her estate if she pre-deceases her husband, because most of her assets are in super. We have worded her will such that, if her husband survives her, even by 5 minutes, all of her […]
Family Provision Disputes
I went to a 4 hour seminar on Family Provision actions on Tuesday, in which relatives of the deceased claim to have special need that was not adequately provided for by the deceased. It covered recent decisions, superannuation and life insurance implications, preparation for hearings and arguments about equitable estoppel and constructive and resulting trusts […]
Probate of Will with Informal Codicil
This week Michael met with an accountant to receive some instructions to apply for probate on a Will that we drafted about 10 years ago. There is also a rather informal codicil which the accountant had drafted for the client, which appears to be valid, despite being in the form of a letter and not […]
The Importance of a Binding Death Benefit Nomination
I was reading a recent case yesterday about a lady whose husband passed away with no will, a small estate, $500k in super and no binding death benefit nomination. She applied for letters of administration, but she also asked the super fund to pay all of the super to herself. Unfortunately, this put her in […]
Requisitions when Executors Apply for Probate Themselves
I saw an executor of an estate yesterday. He was doing his probate application himself. He received a requisition from the Probate Registry of the Supreme Court because the Will stated that “the documents in a folder entitled Will on the C Drive of my computer form part of my Will”. In that directory were […]