After a major event in your life it may be time to review your will. Events such as buying a home, divorcing, remarrying, having a new child, adopting a child, change of business structure, becoming self employed, selling major assets, or starting a self managed fund may not...
In Victoria, it's not just anyone can challenge a will if they were left out or didn't get what they felt was a fair share in inheritance. You have to be an eligible person before you can challenge with such a claim. Only some classes of...
I am seeing a lot more adult children excluded from benefiting from a parent's will these days. According to the parents it is often for good reason. New legislation requires the Court deciding disputes over wills, to have regard to the deceased's reasons for making the...
According to the Victorian Wills Act 1997: (1) The divorce of a testator revokes— (a) any disposition to the divorced spouse of the testator, made in a will in existence at the time of the divorce; and (b) the grant of a power of appointment by the will...
Changes at the Land Titles Office and documents for dealing with land The following are the requirements and dates on which the Registrar’s Requirements take effect. Read on to the end to see how it affects you when you buy or sell land or need to put...
The following Rules of Professional Conduct for Licensed Conveyancers should be noted if you are using a conveyancer. 1. Conflicts of interest A licensee must not accept instructions to perform or continue to perform conveyancing work for a client if doing so would place the licensee’s interests...
At our local Melbourne office of Rigoli Lawyers we are preparing wills and powers of attorneys all the time but it never ceases to amaze me how many people are doing their "own home job" wills and powers of attorney. While I can understand they want...
Settling out of court after separation – what are your options? Once a train speeds up momentum is run-away- it is very difficult to stop. It’s the same with court cases. In the case of litigation, especially family law matters it really is a case of...
Before the year 2000 you could not enforce Prenups or Financial Agreements made outside court – you simply couldn’t contract out of the Family Law Act entitlements. These days Binding Financial Agreements including Prenups are made all the time, and provided that they are prepared and executed...
The practice of providing a discharge of mortgage to the registered proprietor to lodge at Land Victoria is no longer allowed. A discharge of mortgage signed on or after 1 March 2016 must be lodged by or on behalf of the mortgagee. The only exception is where...
Are you entering into a shopping centre lease? Here are some critical questions to consider: What will be my level of competition in the shopping centre? Larger centres often have an over-supply of similar businesses. An accurate picture of your level of competition is necessary for...
You are not a bank but you decide to lend someone money...
