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Often a person making a financial power of attorney appoints two or more persons to act jointly.

Pens – what colour is acceptable to sign a legal document? We recently had a client who urgently contacted us saying that she had signed a document with a green pen, and…

VCAT has power in some circumstances to make an order that a person be represented by another person. It can make either an administration order or a guardianship order, or both. Administration…

Leaving gifts to children in Wills – something quirky: In Victoria if you leave a share of your estate to a child, and say nothing further, if that child dies before you…

At a recent Wills session for the Salvation Army we were asked on a couple of occasions whether changing address invalidates a Will. It does not. Wills are actually drawn so that…

Planning for the administration of digital assets by your executor after death is becoming an increasingly complex and pressing problem. What does an executor do with an online bank account? First, the…

Can a “peppercorn” bequest prevent a Will challenge? It is often thought that leaving a very small bequest to a beneficiary will have the effect of preventing that beneficiary making a challenge…

In some circumstances the Supreme Court can make a Will for a person who lacks testamentary capacity. This power is given to the court in the Wills Act (Vic.). Such Wills are…

Retirement village contracts are a bit like marriage – they are a little bit harder to get out of than to get into. There is a variety of what are compositely called…

Family agreements, or more colloquially ‘granny flat agreements’ are predicted to become a more and more important part of the aged care landscape in the future. The harsh economic reality over the…

There was a recent article in the Age newspaper about some of the legal consequences of getting into and out of retirement villages. A spokesman for the Residents of Retirement Villages Victoria…

The law relating to Wills, and estate administration, is State based. Each State has its own legislation. Although there are many similarities between the States’ laws, there are also many differences. This…

In the continuing series about accommodation bonds, we have myth number 2: Myth – I will lose a large part of the accommodation bond when I leave the facility. We are talking…

There have been many reports in the newspapers about the death of the world’s oldest man (and second oldest person). Walter Breuning died in the United States aged 114. He had some…

There was an article about financial abuse of elders in the Age on 1st April. Unfortunately, this was just one of several similar stories published in recent times. It drew attention to…

The “Include a Charity” initiative is under way. It is directed at encouraging people to make a gift to charity in their Wills. I don’t think it is necessary to say anything…

A visiting American dignitary was recently interviewed on the radio and indicated that he was leaving a government position.  The announcer asked if he was going to retire. The dignitary’s answer was…

Section 125D of the Instruments Act provides as follows: “Requirement to keep records An attorney under an enduring power of attorney must keep and preserve accurate records and accounts of all dealings…

Tim Colebatch recently wrote an article in the Age about our ageingpopulation and the future costs to the community of that process.The article was full of quite extraordinary (and some frightening) statistics.The…

The capacity of a person, especially an older person, to execute legal documents is an important and quite complex topic for lawyers. If a Will, for instance, is signed by a person…