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Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 10 September 2016. Wayne is 82. He is in good physical shape, apart from having some trouble getting around and suffering from some hearing loss. Wayne’s nephew, Dave comes over once or twice a week to help out. He mows the lawn and does some of the cleaning that Wayne finds difficult. Wayne has one younger brother, Michael, who is Dave’s father. Wayne has no children and no other immediate family. […]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 3 September 2016. Estate Planning: Life interests as a solution  Jack marries his second wife, Jill in the 1990’s. Jack makes a will leaving his estate to Jill and the four children to his previous wife, in equal shares. When Jack unexpectedly passes away 20 years later, Jill realizes that he had not updated his will. […]

 Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 27 August 2016. Linda gets a job at Big Mart Pty Ltd in August 2007. She begins as a casual employee working different hours on different days each week, depending on when she is needed. Linda is fast learner and a hard worker, so she is soon recognised by her manager, Howard, as an employee he can rely on. […]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 20 August 2016. Joe operates a fish and chip shop, owned by his company Fishy Joe’s Pty Ltd. Joe has a number of permanent employees working for him, but needs some extra help over the summer. […]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 13 August 2016. Ross dies at the age of 71, leaving an estate worth around $700,000. Shortly before his death, Ross made a will, leaving $30,000 to each of his children, Mark and Leanne. The rest of his estate is left to his only other son, Luke and Ross’ three grandchildren in equal shares, with the effect that they each receive $160,000. […]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 6 August 2016. Jason is 40 years old. He mentions to his solicitor, who is undertaking a different legal matter for him, that he was the victim of sexual abuse over a period of about 1 year when he was 12 years old. He tells his solicitor that the abuse has had a significant effect on his mental health and it severely affected his grades at school. Prior to the assaults, Jason was top of his class at school and in early high school his grades fell drastically. […]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 30 July 2016. After the death of her husband, several years ago, Mary’s solicitor explained to her the importance of executing a power of attorney. The “enduring” power of attorney would have appointed her only child, Denise, to manage her financial affairs, if she lost the capacity to do so herself. Mary was concerned about the cost involved and decided that she would think about putting a power of attorney in place “down the track”. […]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 23 July 2016. John and Mary are 80 years of age. They have accumulated significant assets during their lifetimes and decide to review their Wills. […]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 16 July 2016. Martha is a widowed aged pensioner and homeowner. Martha’s neighbour, Gillian, writes her a letter stating that she is unhappy with the condition of the fence between the two properties and wants to have it replaced. […]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 2 July 2016. When Jane dies a widow at the age of 89, she leaves John, her adopted son, 40% of her substantial estate. Jane has no other children and leaves the rest of her estate to her nieces and nephews. She appoints her nephew as her executor. […]