NDIS UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT – Impact on Elder Care & Powers of Attorney

NDIS SCHEME The National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (Cth) ( NDIS) came into effect in March, 2013.  It set out the framework for the Scheme and the establishment of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).  The NDIS came into effect on 1 July, 2013.  It is estimated that around 460,000 people access the scheme.[1]    It is a tiered system, with […]

Read more
Trustee’s minute of meeting evidences bad faith

Australian Taxation Institute Journal – Trustee’s minute of meeting evidences bad faith

by Christine Smyth, TEP, & Katerina Peiros, ATI, Hartwell Legal. The failure of a discretionary trustee to give real and genuine consideration in their decision-making, and to act in good faith and for proper purpose, invalidated a distribution decision.  Trani v Trani1  defies all odds. The legal principles are simple and yet rare to be applied successfully. The facts are trite. Patrizia Trani lost control of […]

Read more
Loss of capacity – an issue for all advisers

Australian Taxation Institute Journal – Loss of capacity – an issue for all advisers

by Christine Smyth, TEP, and Katerina Peiros, ATI, Hartwell Legal  Three cases about solicitor duty to ascertain if their client has capacity to give instructions in the conduct of litigation are informative to other advisers. It is old news that mental and cognitive disorders are on the rise across the population. This will not improve in our lifetime.1 Those affected by the disorders are frequently […]

Read more
Elder abuse – it’s criminal!

Australian Taxation Institute Journal – Elder abuse – it’s criminal!

by Christine Smyth, TEP and Katerina Peiros, ATI, Hartwell Legal Practitioners  need to be aware of the available criminal law consequences of elder abuse. “Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home — so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world … Unless these rights have meaning there, […]

Read more
The future of solicitor’s duty to willmaker

Australian Tax Institute Journal: The future of solicitor’s duty to willmaker

Solicitors would be breaching their duty of care if they were to merely commit the client’s testamentary wishes to paper, without properly advising on the effect. The era of “simple” wills ended many moons ago. No will nowadays should go without some sort of clause about executor self-dealing or conflict, taxation, balancing of non-estate wealth, streaming or quarantining of life […]

Read more
Stepchildren seeking further provision in Victoria

Australian Tax Institute Journal: Stepchildren seeking further provision in Victoria

by  Christine Smyth, TEP, and Katerina Peiros, ATI, Hartwell Legal,  New developments in the  definition of “stepchild” in Victoria will affect other jurisdictions. The Victorian Justice Legislation Amendment (Succession and Surrogacy) Act 2014 made changes to Pt IV of the Administration and Probate Act 1958 (Vic) (the Act), which governs applications for further provision from deceased estates in Victoria. These amendments […]

Read more
Ready, willing and able

Victorian Law Institute Journal: Ready, willing and able

CASELAW GUIDES PRACTITIONERS IN ADVISING THEIR CLIENTS ON NON-BINDING NOMINATIONS, COLLECTION OF DEATH BENEFITS AND POSSIBLE CONFLICTS OF INTEREST FOR PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVES. –  BY CHRISTINE SMYTH AND KATERINA PEIROS Australians currently have more than $2.3 trillion1 invested in superannuation products and so it is no surprise, that upon death, an interest in the proceeds of these products results in contested applications […]

Read more

Australian Tax Institute Journal: Bankruptcy – protecting death benefits and insurance

by Christine Smyth, TEP, and Katerina Peiros, ATI, Hartwell Legal,  Mercies of the Bankruptcy Act 1966 and Life Insurance Act 1995 that should be wider known and utilised. Personal bankruptcy results when an individual is unable to pay his or her debts as and when they fall due and payable.1 Notably, the test is not whether the debts exceed an individual’s assets, it is […]

Read more