Posts Categorized: Will & Estates

The Special Disability Trust is an underutilised but useful vehicle for providing for family members who may have a physical or intellectual disability. It permits one to hold up to an amount of $551,740 which is excluded from the asset test, and the income from which is excluded from the income test. What Is It?…

The effects of family breakdown extend beyond the personal to the economic, including intergenerational wealth transfers such as those created by wills. The Family Court has extensive powers to make orders in relation to the ‘property’ and ‘financial resources’ of couples whose relationship has failed and one or both of whom have asked for its’…

The first step in deciding how and to whom you wish to leave your assets is to identify what your ‘assets’ are. Broadly speaking, they can be divided into ‘estate assets’ and ‘non-estate assets’. Only the former can be left by your will. This is a short list of some estate assets: personal effects; a…

We have written on previous occasions about how a person can challenge a will under the Inheritance (Family Provision) Act 1972 (SA). When drafting a will it must be borne in mind that the members of the will-maker’s family will not always agree with the intentions of the will-maker as expressed in the will and that an…

Sometimes a gift in a Will fails to provide the intended benefit. The possibility of this happening needs to be considered when the will is being drafted. Those beneficiaries most likely to lose or not benefit from an inheritance are known as ‘at-risk beneficiaries’. Some examples include— beneficiaries who may have personal liabilities (for example,…

The Family Court possesses extensive powers to deal with the property and financial resources of parties to a marriage. The recent case of Kennon v Spry, decided by the High Court earlier this year, shows just how extensive. The case dealt, in the main, with the meaning of ‘property’ for purposes of the Family Law…