Hypotheticals & Articles

Article by Manny Wood published in the Coffs Coast News Of The Area on  3 October 2025. Helena lived on her rural property for decades with her partner, Lionel. Together, they worked the land and built their home. When Lionel’s health declined, Helena took on the role of his full-time carer. A combination of caring duties, Lionel’s advancing age and her constant worry over finances left Helena exhausted and struggling to keep up with the payment of expenses. When Lionel passed away, Helena became the sole owner of the property. With no children and few surviving relatives, Helena was left to face everything on her own. At [...]

Article by Manny Wood published in the Coffs Coast News Of The Area on 26 September 2025. Matthew is married and runs his own business. He obtains income protection insurance. Unfortunately, Matthew’s marriage breaks down. A few years later he is diagnosed with schizophrenia. Matthew finds it difficult to work consistently and claims income protection payments on his policy. When his mother passes away, after developing dementia, Matthew’s mental state suffers a further decline when he witnesses his mother’s suffering and indignity in the final stages of her life. Matthew’s friend, Mary visits him regularly and spends nights with him on the houseboat, Matthew calls home. Matthew [...]

Article by Manny Wood published in the Coffs Coast News Of The Area on 19 September 2025. Bob has been estranged from his eldest son, following a physical altercation which occurred on Christmas Day, 20 years ago. When Bob decides to make a new Will, he consults a solicitor regarding his son’s rights to claim inheritance. He is informed that despite the lengthy estrangement, his son can still make a claim against Bob’s estate. This is known as a Family Provision Claim. Bob asks whether giving his son a nominal amount of money under his Will, can prevent a claim. He is advised that doing this may [...]

Article by Manny Wood published in the Coffs Coast News Of The Area on 12 September 2025. Wendy makes enquiries with her superannuation fund regarding the payment of her funds in the event that she unexpectedly passes away. Wendy is advised that because she is not in a relationship and has no children, that she should execute a non-binding death benefit nomination. She also has the option of making a binding nomination and the nominations can either be lapsing or non-lapsing. The superannuation fund emails a blank form to Wendy. The form allows her to nominate beneficiaries by name or nominate her “legal personal representative”. The form [...]

Article by Manny Wood published in the Coffs Coast News Of The Area on 5 September 2025. Harry makes a Will, using a home-made Will kit, leaving his Smith Street property to his daughter, Wendy. The Will makes no reference to Harry’s other assets. Wendy had been living with Harry and assisting with his care. A few years later, Harry obtains a reverse mortgage, due to financial pressures. The mortgage is registered over the Smith Street property. When Harry is diagnosed with cancer, he decides to sell the Smith Street property and downsize, purchasing a unit with the surplus funds after the mortgage is repaid. Wendy and [...]

Article by Manny Wood published in the Coffs Coast News Of The Area on 29 August 2025. Steve and his extended family go on a holiday to North Queensland. Following a heated debate regarding the sleeping arrangements and the activities itinerary, he takes a walk along the beach at dusk in an area known to be populated by crocodiles. He never returns. Steve owned real estate jointly with his wife, Linda. He left two daughters, in their 20’s. When Linda passes-away 25 years later, the administration of their estates presents problems. In terms of Steve’s estate, the Court states that it has the power to make orders [...]

Article by Manny Wood published in the Coffs Coast News Of The Area on 22 August 2025. Lydia signed a formal will appointing her niece, Anna and her grandnephew, Marko as executors. Under that will, Anna and Marko were to share the whole of Lydia’s estate. But when Lydia passed-away, the original will could not be found. This gave her niece Katarina the chance to argue that Lydia must have destroyed it, intending to revoke it. If her argument was successful, the estate would pass on intestacy, giving Katarina and other relatives a share and leaving Marko with nothing. The twist was an unwitnessed codicil that Lydia [...]

Article by Manny Wood published in the Coffs Coast News Of The Area on 15 August 2025. Robert is not happy with the result that he obtains in the Supreme Court, where he claimed an interest in real estate after the failure of a joint endeavour with a friend. His application was dismissed and he was ordered to pay the whole of the legal costs involved. Robert cannot afford legal representation and after conducting “deep research” through a popular Artificial Intelligence (‘AI”) platform, he decides to appeal the Judge’s findings. The Court of Appeal, consists of a hearing before three Judges, who made a number of observations [...]

Article by Manny Wood published in the Coffs Coast News Of The Area on 8 August 2025. In tragic circumstances, Wendy’s son, William, passes-away. Aware that William did not have a Will, Wendy contacts a solicitor to commence the administration of her late son’s estate. Wendy believes that she is William’s “next of kin” on the basis that William was never married, was not in a de facto relationship when he passed, and did not have any children. William’s father passed-away several years ago. Wendy makes enquiries with William’s bank and superannuation fund. Wendy files an application to obtain a grant of “letters of administration”. This is [...]

Article by Manny Wood published in the Coffs Coast News Of The Area on 1 August 2025. Over a 10-year period, pursuant to orders of the Family Court, Gary pays child support to Scott’s mother. Otherwise, Gary has no personal contact with Scott. When Scott turns 18, he endeavours to have contact with Gary but Gary refuses unless Scott submits to DNA testing. Scott declines to do so. Decades pass and when Gary is in his late 70s, Scott writes him a letter, stating that he wishes to meet with him to have an opportunity to get to know him and understand the “missing” person in his [...]