We provide a range of private client services to individuals who prefer to have
the advantage of a commercial firm handle personal matters such as estate planning
and property transactions. Appropriate legal advice is essential for proper wealth
development and succession planning. Our lawyers have the experience and resources
to provide you with practical and discreet advice. Our goal is to assist you to
structure your affairs to protect the assets you have acquired and be confident
that your dependents will be provided for.
We work closely with our client's accountants and tax advisers to take into
account the tax implications of your arrangements. We have associations with licensed
financial planners who can advise on financial protection through life insurance
and income protection insurance. We also draw on Harris Freidman's family law
specialists to ensure that clients who have blended families are properly advised
how to structure their affairs in order to minimise disputes later on.
Preparing a Will with the benefit of skilled professional advice is essential to
ensure that it is a valid enforceable document, it clearly expresses your wishes
and that it adequately provides for your family and dependents. We assist people
in a variety of personal circumstances, everything from preparing simple Wills for
individuals with no dependents, advising clients with children from previous relationships
or establishing a tax effective testamentary trust for individuals who control considerable
wealth in private companies. Our lawyers will help you to prepare a document tailored
to your individual history and circumstances.
We also advise you how to deal with other personal assets not the subject of a Will
such as superannuation, jointly owned property and life insurance.
We regularly advise in relation to:
Family companies and trusts
Powers of attorney, appointment of guardians and living Wills
Taxation and superannuation implications
Managing succession issues for sole traders, partnerships and small
companies
Special considerations in the case of disability and mental health issues
Applications for grant of probate and letters of administration including informal
wills and rectification of Wills
Administration of intestate or partially intestate estates
Our lawyers have been trusted to act as executors for many of our clients because
they perform this work efficiently and with discretion. With that experience, we
can help you to choose an appropriate executor to look after your affairs and advise
you how they should be compensated.
We will keep your Will safe and readily accessible. We regularly remind our clients
to consider whether their personal circumstances have altered and they need to amend
their Will. We also advise our clients when changes to the law require them to review
their existing arrangements.
We have an experienced team of lawyers who deal with disputes arising from contested
estates and applications for further provision from a deceased estate. We always
advise our clients to explore negotiated resolutions to disputed estates to preserve
the assets of the estate for the rightful beneficiaries. However if disputes are
litigated, we help you sort through what can amount to a lifetime of material and
present the relevant information in a cost effective way.
Please select a name below to meet our team