Hypotheticals & Articles

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 4 August 2018. Alan dies at the age of 50. He had not made a will. Alan was survived by his second wife, Susan and two minor children to a previous relationship. Because Alan did not have a will, his estate was to be distributed under the laws of intestacy and given that his estate has a value of $430,000, Susan is entitled to the whole of the estate and Alan’s children receive nothing. Alan’s children commence proceedings, seeking provision from their father’s estate. […]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 28 July 2018. Jill dies without making a will. Her estate includes a house and a substantial bank account. David makes an application for a grant of letters of administration on the basis that he was Jill’s de facto spouse and that he is entitled to the whole of her estate. The probate Registry refuses David’s application on the basis that his affidavit evidence does not “go far enough” to establish the existence of a de facto relationship. David applies to the Supreme Court for a review of the Registrar’s decision. […]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 21 July 2018. Gordon, a motor vehicle mechanic, trips over his toolbox in the workshop and sustains a serious injury to his back. The incident occurred in 2013. Unfortunately, Gordon was unable to return to any type of work and underwent a total of three major spinal operations. A workers compensation claim was made with the employer’s insurer relating to Gordon’s inability to work and he received weekly payments. These payments were initially 90% of his average weekly earnings but these payments were reduced to 80% after 13 weeks. […]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 14 July 2018. Margaret’s daughter, Penny is getting married to Chris. Margaret gives them a unit that she had been using as an investment property as a wedding gift. The property is transferred into Penny and Chris’ names jointly and Margaret pays the stamp duty. Tragically, during Penny and Chris’ honeymoon, they are involved in a car accident and they are both killed. Penny was 30 years old and Chris was 28 years old when they died. They did not have any children and they had not executed wills. […]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 7 July 2018. In December 2017, Jason is involved in a motor vehicle accident. He sustains soft tissue injuries his neck and lower back and an injury to his left knee resulting in a total medial meniscectomy. The accident was caused by the fault of the other driver. Jason sees his solicitor just prior to Christmas 2017. He is advised that he needs to lodge an application for personal injury benefits within three months of the date of the accident and to receive weekly benefits from the date of the accident, he needs to lodge his [...]

Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 30 June 2018. Paul and Jane were married a few years ago. When the couple are visiting their friend’s farm, Jane is tragically involved in an accident involving a quad bike. Jane is 30 years old at the time. When Jane arrives at a Sydney hospital, she is unresponsive and sedated. She is diagnosed as suffering from a severe brain injury and the surgeons, neurosurgeons and orthopaedic surgeons agree that Jane is in fact brain dead. […]

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 [...]