Hypotheticals & Articles

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 [...]