Wills and Estates Symposium 2023
Take a practical journey in this comprehensive program that will set you up for the year. With leading wills and estates experts, in you will review the latest cases from the Courts, grasp how to mitigate blended family disputes, trusts tax issues including s100A and Division 7A and uncover disentitling conduct and estrangement. In the afternoon, pick up your ethics, practice management and professional skills points with topics specifically tailored for wills and estates lawyers and practices. 233Q05
Description
Attend and earn 7 CPD units including:
4 units in Legal Knowledge
1 unit in Practical Legal Ethics
1 unit in Practice Management & Business Skills
1 unit in Professional Skills
This program is based on QLD legislation
Session 1
Wills & Estates Law Roundup
Chair: David Topp, Barrister, Bank of New South Wales Chambers
9.00am to 10.00am Wills and Estates Case Update
In this session, you will review recent cases on:
- Testamentary capacity
- Mutual wills
- Informal wills
- Copy wills
- Removal of executors
- Costs
Presented by Rob Cumming, Barrister, 19 Inns Chambers; Recommended Wills & Estates Litigation Junior Counsel, Doyle’s Guide 2022
10.00am to 11.00am Estate Planning for the Blended Family
With an increasing trend of blended family disputes, how can we plan to prevent them in future? With one of the lawyers on the Forster case, you will look at estate planning strategies for blended families including:
- Mutual wills including a review of the decision in Forster v Forster [2022] QSC 30
- Rights to reside v life interests
- Life insurance or superannuation
- Resources outside the estate
- Capital controlled testamentary trusts
Presented by Laura Hanrahan, Special Counsel, Hall & Wilcox; Best Lawyers 2023, Trusts and Estates, Wealth Management/Succession Planning Practice
11.00am to 11.15am Morning Tea
11.15am to 12.15pm Recent Trusts Tax Aspects Affecting Estate Planning
Trusts and super funds are common structures used in private and commercial settings by many people during their lifetime. Dealing with these structures in estate planning can be a challenge. In this session we will explore tax considerations for trusts in the context of estate planning and address some of the recent tips and traps for planning strategies in the following areas:
- Discretionary trusts, TDTs and reimbursement agreements (s100A)
- Trust distributions to corporate beneficiaries, and the ATO view of Division 7A
- “Tainted” Testamentary Trusts
Presented by Neal Dallas, Principal, McInnes Wilson Lawyers; SMSF Specialist Advisor; Best Lawyers 2022, Tax Law, Trusts and Estates, Superannuation Law & Wealth Management/Succession Planning Practice; Leading Wills, Estates & Succession Planning Lawyer and Recommended Tax Lawyer, Doyle’s Guide 2022 and Victoria Mercer, Solicitor - Superannuation and Revenue, McInnes Wilson Lawyers; Wills, Estates & Succession Planning Law Rising Star, Doyle’s Guide 2022
12.15pm to 1.15pm Disentitling Conduct and Estrangement
- Difference between disentitling conduct and estrangement
- Elements of disentitling conduct and estrangement
- Categories of conduct where disentitling conduct and estrangement have been successful, and those where it has not
- Ranges of awards where provision has been awarded
Presented by James Daly, Armstrong Legal; Recommended Wills & Estates Litigation Lawyer and Recommended Wills, Estates & Succession Planning Lawyer, Doyle’s Guide 2020
Session 2
Wills and Estates Professional Skills, Practice Management and Ethics
Chair: Florence Chen, Barrister, Level 27 Chambers; Leading Tax Barrister, Doyle’s Guide 2022
Professional Skills
2.00pm to 3.00pm Collaborative Practice
We are about to witness the largest transfer of inter-generational wealth in Australian history. As an estates lawyer, what will you be doing to help make this process as smooth as possible? In this interactive and energising session, you will learn how the multi-disciplinary team-based facilitation model known as collaborative practice is doing just that. This session will cover:
- What is collaborative practice?
- Where it began and how it is now being applied in estate planning and in contested estates
- How is it different to working cooperatively with other lawyers to reach settlement?
- How it is different to traditional mediation?
- The role of the clients and each member of the inter-disciplinary team
- The value of the communications coach & financial neutral
- How to get involved
Presented by Zinta Harris, Principal, Resolve Estate Law; Accredited Specialist in Succession Law; Best Lawyers 2023, Trust and Estates; Leading Estates Litigation Lawyer, Doyle’s Guide 2022
Practice Management & Business Skills
3.00pm to 4.00pm Protecting Your Wills and Estates Practice with Iron Clad Armour
- Curbing risks in the will preparation stage
- Inadequate instruction taking
- Administration mistakes
- Delay in finalising estates
Presented by Betty Leung, Senior Estate Planning Lawyer, Australian Unity Trustees Legal Services; Accredited Specialist in Succession Law
4.00pm to 4.15pm Afternoon Tea
Practical Legal Ethics
4.15pm to 5.15pm Lesson to be Learned from Permewan 1 & 2 and Turner
This presentation will go through the facts and judgments of each case, detailing the fundamental breaches of our professional and ethical obligations, with a view of how to avoid making the same errors including:
- Dating of documents, not leaving blanks in documents, and failing to deliver promissory notes
- Dating documents after the event, putting in the wrong date and delegating work to others
- Not confirming instructions in writing, poor diary notes and not acting on documents
Presented by Steve Grant CTA, Director Merthyr Law; Recommended Wills, Estates & Succession Planning Lawyer, Doyle’s Guide 2021
Presenters
David Topp
David Topp is a Barrister at the private bar in Brisbane. Admitted as a solicitor in 2002 and having commenced practice as a barrister during February 2006, David has many years of practical experience in all aspects of trusts, estate and family provision litigation and dispute resolution, along with a sideline practice as a registered costs assessor or costs advocate as the case may be. David is an accomplished speaker having presented seminars on many prior occasions for Lexis Nexis, Step Qld, Step Tasmania, the Qld Law Society, Television Education Network and Legalwise, and has had written work published by Proctor, the Tasmanian Law Society's quarterly Law Letter, CCH Online and Lawyers Weekly. David is also the author of two Security for Costs textbooks and the property law themed Tennyson Breach.
Rob Cumming
After 35 years as a solicitor, Rob commenced practising as a barrister at the Queensland Bar in May 2017. Rob specialises in a range of estate, trust and disability law issues. He is well versed in dealing with estate litigation, particularly family provision applications, construction, rectification and cy-prŠs applications and solemn form proceedings. Similarly, he is very experienced in guardianship and administration matters and the special requirements for persons with a legal disability. As a solicitor, Rob successfully achieved Queensland Law Society Specialist Accreditation
James Daly
James holds a Masters of Applied Law majoring in Wills and Estates from the College of Law as well as a double undergraduate degree from Victoria University in Business and Law. He moved to Brisbane from Victoria in late 2020. James works only in Wills and Estates matters, with a particular focus in Wills and Estates Litigation. He has acted for clients in both family provision and will validity claims, and can also assist clients with proceedings for the interpretation of will clauses. James has been recognised as one of the recommended Wills and Estate litigation lawyers by 2020 Doyles Guide (Victoria 2020).
Laura Hanrahan
Laura practices exclusively in the areas of superannuation, estate planning and administration. She spends her days assisting family's in making decisions and documenting their estate plans. Laura has a background that includes family law, business services and taxation and is experienced in dealing with the variety of issues associated with preparing comprehensive estate plans for clients. A member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and the SMSF Professionals' Association of Australia, Laura regularly presents papers on relevant superannuation and estate matters to various industry audiences. When she's not assisting other familys' she can be found assisting her own family, her two children and husband.
Neal Dallas
Neal Dallas is a Principal in McInnes Wilson Lawyers’ Superannuation and Revenue Group. He has extensive experience advising clients in the areas of superannuation, tax, estate planning and asset protection. He is recognised in the 2022 Edition of Best Lawyers in Australia in the areas of Superannuation Law, Tax Law, Trusts and Estates, and Wealth Management/Succession Planning Practice.
Zinta Harris
Zinta is the owner of Resolve Estate Law, a Brisbane-based boutique law firm specialising in contested estates and complex estate administrations. She is the only dual-accredited specialist in succession law and business law in Queensland, and the only specialist of this kind in Australia who is also a nationally accredited mediator and an accredited collaborative practitioner.
Over the last 25 plus years in practice, Zinta has helped steer dozens of complex and bitter estate battles to resolution without going to court. But in many cases, settlements were reached at a late stage in the process when the damage had already been done, financially and relationally. It was not until recently, when Zinta first learned of the collaborative practice dispute resolution model, that she considered approaching the resolution of contested estate matters differently. This integrated, team-based dispute resolution model has been used successfully in family law divorce contexts in Australia for over a decade but has only recently been used in other contexts, including contested estates, in the United States and the United Kingdom. Taking this approach Zinta has observed that when a holistic approach is taken, involving communication coaches and neutral financial advisers, estate disputes resolve more quickly, ensuring that the inheritance is not gouged by huge legal costs incurred in lengthy and hostile legal proceedings. Surrounding clients with a professional support team to guide them through their dispute over inheritance and taking the time to address the underlying issues that often drive inheritance disputes early (which are often human issues not legal issues), families are able to reach a mutually beneficial compromise without the aggression and emotional toll of traditional court pathways.
Betty Leung
Betty Leung is a Senior Estate Planning Lawyer at Australian Unity Trustees Legal Services in Brisbane. With nearly 20 years of experience, Betty is also a Queensland Law Society Accredited Specialist in Succession Law. Betty's focus is on all aspects of estate planning for clients to achieve effective succession of wealth. She acts for clients including high net worth individuals and those with blended families, complex structures, rural estates and international assets.
Venue
Hilton Brisbane
190 Elizabeth St
Brisbane City
Brisbane 4000
QLD
Australia
Directions
Due to one way road systems, please note that car access is via Elizabeth Street only. Please programme 190 Elizabeth Street if using a car navigational device.
Nearby Public Transport:Train Stations - Central Station
Bus Interchange - George Square Bus Station
Parking
Parking is not included in your registration. There is valet parking available for AU$58.00