by Julie | Sep 14, 2018 | Contesting A Will
The end is in sight for the family members locked in a bitter estate battle over the racehorse trainer Bart Cummings’ estate. in 2016, the New South Wales Supreme Court heard that two proceedings have been launched challenging Cummings’ will – one by...
by Julie | Sep 11, 2018 | Family Law
The Liberal Coalition says that if it is elected in Victoria in November, Victoria Police will be given new powers to issue intervention orders on the spot in domestic violence situations. Currently police can only issue a temporary safety notice in domestic violence...
by Julie | Sep 5, 2018 | Contesting A Will
Can a man accused of helping his wife commit suicide inherit her life insurance policy? A Queensland man accused of assisting his wife take her own life as he was beneficiary of her $1.4 million life insurance told her she was too weak to survive the biblical rapture,...
by Julie | Aug 29, 2018 | Contesting A Will
The daughter of world famous sculptor Lynn Chadwick has lost her 13-year estate battle to secure what she says is a ‘fair’ slice of the priceless art collection he left behind. The artist died 15 years ago, aged 88, leaving a ‘prodigious artistic...
by Julie | Aug 24, 2018 | Family Law
This week the Victorian Supreme Court refused an application by the State of Victoria to strike out a claim by Tara Smith* and her three children. Smith claims Victoria Police officers were negligent because they failed to prevent numerous breaches of protection...
by Julie | Aug 20, 2018 | Contesting A Will
When is a marriage not a marriage? When one of the parties doesn’t have the mental capacity to understand what marriage is, it may be nullified by a court. But what is the test to decide capacity in relation to marriage? The Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) states that a...
by Julie | Aug 17, 2018 | Contesting A Will
An estate battle has erupted in the United States between three sisters, one of whom is accused of using coercion against their increasingly frail, dying mother to change her will. In February 2011 Mary Redmond died. She was 98. A retired nurse, predeceased by her...
by Julie | Aug 14, 2018 | Family Law
If you’re thinking of entering into a serious relationship or contemplating marriage, you may be interested to know that science has come up with some accurate ways to predict divorce. These predictions have way higher accuracy than you might think — and the...
by Julie | Aug 9, 2018 | Estate Planning
Is a text message a valid will? The answer is: it depends. Some jurisdictions will accept a text message as a will, while others won’t. But the true moral of these stories is that your estate planning should always be more thorough than a text message. In...
by Julie | Aug 6, 2018 | Contesting A Will
How does the court approach the question of mental incapacity, and at what stage does it mean that a will is declared invalid due to mental incapacity? In Power v Smart (2018) WASC 168, the daughters of the late Mrs Okle, who had dementia and severely impaired vision...
