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Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 23 June 2018. Agnes has two children, Robert and John. Agnes decides to appoint Robert as her sole enduring guardian. The appointment of enduring guardian authorizes Robert to make decisions for Agnes if she loses the capacity to make decisions for herself. These decisions include deciding where Agnes lives, deciding what healthcare she receives, deciding what other kinds of personal services she receives and extends to consenting to medical and dental treatment on Agnes’ behalf. […]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 16 June 2018. Peter, a railway worker, injured his knee when alighting from a train in 1999 and as a result, underwent a total meniscectomy of his left knee. Peter made a workers compensation claim and began receiving weekly payments. Over the years, Peter’s knee deteriorated significantly and in 2016 at the age of 66, Peter was advised that he required a total knee replacement. His whole person impairment (WPI) was assessed at 10%. […]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 9 June 2018. Bill makes a home-made will. When Bill passes-away, a number of issues arise. Bill leaves $100,000 to his son, Charles on the condition that he does not contest Bill’s will, seeking further provision. Charles is aware that the gift constitutes a relatively small portion of Bill’s estate and believes he is entitled to a greater share. Charles is concerned that if he contests his father’s will and is unsuccessful, he will also miss-out on the $100,000 gift. Charles obtains legal advice and is informed that the condition is invalid and that Bill’s will [...]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 2 June 2018. Laura (30) is Matthew’s (70) second-cousin. Laura says that Matthew told her; “I will leave everything to you in my will, for all the work that you have done and all the work that you are going to do for me in the future. She says that Matthew repeated words to this effect every three or four months. Laura says that over more than 17 years, in response to Matthew’s promises, she visited him on a weekly basis, when she would cook for him, attend to his grocery shopping, clean his house and [...]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 26 May 2018. Jane and Toby purchase a new house but unfortunately, one of the fences on the boundary is rotting-away and is in a dilapidated state. Jane and Toby approach their neighbour, Fred, to discuss building a new fence. Fred is not willing to contribute to the cost of fencing. He also says that if a fence is necessary at all, it should be a post-and-wire fence and not a colorbond fence as proposed by Jane and Toby. […]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 19 May 2018. Robert and Moira owned a house which was totally destroyed by fire. Their insurance company offered to pay $490,000 which their insurer stated, was the reasonable cost of rebuilding the home. It was not disputed that the home could not be repaired. Robert and Moira claimed that they were entitled to $850,000, being the amount shown on their policy for “buildings sum insured”. This was a difference of $360,000 from the amount offered by the insurance company. […]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 12 May 2018. Mary was divorced several years ago and has two adult children. She meets Barry and after a few years they are married. Mary owns her own home and Barry has very few assets. Mary is concerned about her estate planning and researches her options. […]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 5 May 2018. Gary and Jill wish to sell their home and relocate closer to their children. They own their property as joint tenants. Paul wishes to purchase the property and after paying a 10% deposit to the real estate agent, contracts are signed and exchanged. Settlement is scheduled to occur 28 days later. Unfortunately, Gary dies before settlement. […]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 28 April 2018. Michael, an indigenous Australian, died without a will. Michael had very few physical assets, but searches revealed that he had funds in superannuation and that a substantial death benefit was payable. […]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 21 April 2018. In January 2003, Travis had recently finished high school and needed work. He visited OG Quarries Pty Ltd and spoke with Gary, the quarry manager. Gary offered Travis a start and put him to work immediately as a labourer. Travis proved to be a hard worker and continued employment with OG Quarries for 15 years. He was provided yearly pay increases and consistently worked at least 38 hours per week, plus overtime at double pay. However, in January 2018, after a disagreement with his foreman, Travis was fired and told to leave the [...]