Wills & Estates

Services include:

• Wills
• Challenges to Wills
• Enduring Powers of Attorney
• Estate and succession planning
• Testamentary and protective trusts
• Deceased estate and trust administration
• Estate dispute resolution and litigation
• Advance Health Directives

Protecting You and Your Loved Ones

A professionally prepared Will is one of the best investments you will make in your lifetime. It can save much anxiety and conflict within families grieving the death of a loved one. A Will prepared by one of Kennedy Spanner’s team of professionals provides genuine security for you and your family.

Kennedy Spanner can assist you with Succession Planning. An integral part of this involves reviewing any Family Trust Deed you have, Superannuation papers and Business Succession Plans. This is all done to make sure you and your family are covered and that you have an effective succession strategy in place.

You may have a child or potential beneficiary who is disabled or has some other impairment which could impact on that person’s ability to handle a large sum of money. We can guide you through the issues and formulate a strategy which often involves the appointment of someone you trust to manage the monies on behalf of that person.

Challenging a Will

If you have been inadequately provided for in a Will or worse still, left out of a Will, you do have rights.

Our team is very experienced in challenging Wills for people who have been unjustly treated by a Will. We will assess your case promptly and in approved cases we will:

• Handle the matter on a “No Win No Fee” basis; or
• Agree to defer payment of our legal fees until completion of the matter.

Strict time limits apply to challenging a Will so we recommend you act without delay.

Administration of Deceased Estates

If you have been appointed as trustee of an estate, we can assist you with the administration of that Estate. It is important for the trustee to strictly carry out the wishes of the Will and we will guide you through the key issues. Our fees can often be deferred until the end of the matter as the fees are normally paid out of the assets of the Estate.

Enduring Powers of Attorney

Some people often refer to an Enduring Power of Attorney as a “Living Will”.

You can appoint someone whom you trust implicitly to make decisions on your behalf if you lose your capacity to do so. That person is your “Attorney”.

Your Attorney can do anything legally you can do yourself. It is important that you choose wisely. We like to give you the option of incorporating a clause in the Enduring Power of Attorney which means the Attorney can only act on your behalf in certain circumstances.

The advantage of having pre-appointed an Attorney is that if you lose your capacity to manage your own affairs due to a motor vehicle accident or stroke or the like, you have pre appointed someone whom you trust to handle your financial/legal affairs for you.