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Article by Manny Wood published in the Coffs Coast News Of The Area on 5 December 2025. Santa Claus, a citizen of Scandinavia, applied for a temporary partner visa to the North Pole after marrying Mrs Claus, a citizen of the North Pole and a local gift-wrapping virtuosa. Between them, they had five elfchildren under twelve. The youngest had just learned to waddle in curled shoes; the eldest could turn any mention of festive chores into a full-blown performance worthy of the Christmas theatre company. In the days leading up to Christmas, Santa worked as a mall Santa and volunteered delivering parcels for children’s charities. He wore [...]

Article by Manny Wood published in the Coffs Coast News Of The Area on 28 November 2025. Mary is interested in purchasing a unit in a local housing development. The unit is yet to be constructed, so she proposes to purchase the unit “off the plan”. Mary negotiates a price with the real estate agent and a draft contract is soon sent to her conveyancer of choice. The contract states that Mary has a choice of interior styles for her unit. Mary decides to proceed with the white colour scheme as opposed to the green colour scheme. Contracts are exchanged and settlement is scheduled to occur after [...]

Article by Manny Wood published in the Coffs Coast News Of The Area on 21 November 2025. Annette died in late 2021. In her will, she appointed her two eldest children, Fiona and Sean, as co-executors. Her estate consisted largely of a coastal cottage where Sean had been living intermittently for several years. Under the will, the cottage and the remainder of the estate were to be divided equally between Fiona, Sean and their younger brother, Kieran. After Annette’s death, Sean continued living in the cottage, refusing to pay rent, contribute to utilities or assist with upkeep. He told his siblings he was “sorting out his life” [...]

Article by Manny Wood published in the Coffs Coast News Of The Area on 14 November 2025. Sally and Harry have been married for 25 years. Sally transfers her home into joint names with Harry as “joint tenants”. Five years later, Sally is moved into a care facility and passes-away two years later at the age of 85. Sally leaves a daughter from a previous relationship, Penny. When Penny discovers that as a result of the transfer of Sally’s home into joint names with Harry, that he will now obtain sole title to the property. Penny seeks to overturn the transfer. Penny claims undue influence at the [...]

Article by Manny Wood published in the Coffs Coast News Of The Area on 7 November 2025. Sam makes an enduring power of attorney (POA), appointing his two children as his attorneys. The appointment is drafted and witnessed by a solicitor. Sam’s children later sign their acceptances of the role and in doing so, declare that they will act in Sam’s best interests. The POA allows either of Sam’s children to immediately manage his financial affairs. Sam also executes an appointment of enduring guardian (AEG), allowing either of his children to make health related decisions for him, if he lacks the capacity to make the decisions himself. [...]

By Andrea FERRARI published in the Coffs Coast News Of The Area on 31 October 2025. THE 600th (Hypo) legal Hypothetical column by Principal Solicitor TB Law Manny Wood, was published in Coffs Coast News Of The Area on 24 October. Mr Wood's first column was published in the Advocate on 14 September 2013. "The column in the paper was my late father's idea," he said. "He was reading the paper on the weekend and asked me 'Why don't you have a column in the paper?' "I pestered the editor at the time for several months before I was given the opportunity to contribute." The Hypo [...]

Article by Manny Wood published in the Coffs Coast News Of The Area on 31 October 2025. Jack passed away in November 2023. He appointed his two sons as executors of his estate. Jack was also survived by a daughter and his estate is to be equally divided between his three children. Despite the expiry of 18 months after Jack’s death, his daughter is concerned that no steps have been taken to sell Jack’s home, nor realise the other assets of his estate, which include shares and a bank account. Jack’s daughter retains a solicitor, who writes to the executors, explaining that capital gains tax may become [...]

Article by Manny Wood published in the Coffs Coast News Of The Area on  24 October 2025. Harry makes a will, leaving 50% of his estate to his eldest son, Steven. His other son, Robert receives just 15% and the rest of the estate is to be distributed amongst other family members and friends. When Harry passes away three years later, his estate is valued at $3 million. After Harry’s death, Robert receives a copy of his late father’s will and is unhappy that he receives a much smaller share of the estate then his older brother. Robert makes a claim against his father’s estate seeking further [...]

Article by Manny Wood published in the Coffs Coast News Of The Area on  17 October 2025. Wendy passes away, leaving four adult children. One of her children, Larry has been through an acrimonious and expensive family law property settlement and as a consequence no longer owns a home. Wendy’s other children are relatively well-off, so she makes a Will, giving her home to Larry and the rest of her estate to her other three children. When Wendy passes-away, Larry is surprised by his mother’s generosity. His siblings are pleased that Larry no longer needs to worry about a place to live and do not look to [...]

Article by Manny Wood published in the Coffs Coast News Of The Area on  10 October 2025. Pending the birth of their first child, Peter and Jane were staying with Jane’s mother, Betty. At the time, Betty was involved in a difficult divorce with her husband. They agree that if Peter and Jane help Betty with finance, they can retain the home and in return they would be registered on title. As the family grew, Betty was to move into the granny flat, which required substantial renovations. The property is refinanced and Peter and Jane begin working on the granny flat. As part of the refinance, Peter [...]