Personal & Succession law

Preparing wills for clients is part of many lawyer’s stock in trade and is often a complex job requiring a deep understanding of a breadth of common law and legislative requirements. The mistakes in this area often happen from not taking clear instructions from clients, not using clearly written precedents and not properly proofreading and road testing the final will to ensure it does what it is supposed to do. This section provides information about how and why errors occur and resources to help avoid them.

Powers of attorney are powerful documents as they allow the attorney to affect the rights and property of someone else and should be treated very carefully. This section contains information about the errors practitioners can make when they advise on and prepare powers of attorney for clients and when they rely on them in transactions.

Acting for disappointed beneficiaries, or those left out of a will carries with it strict time limits and need for a detailed knowledge of legislation and common law. Missing time limits, miscommunication or misunderstanding a client’s rights are the most common causes of claims in this area. This section has articles, checklists and client brochures to help you navigate these issues and avoid errors.

Providing legal advice and assistance in the administration of an estate is an important part of legal work. There are many traps in this work including not dealing with assets as instructed, finalising an estate too quickly or too slowly, distributing the estate incorrectly and managing difficult executors. This provides information to help navigate these issues and avoid errors.