Personal Law

We are able to work with you to help you decide how best to equitably distribute your assets during your lifetime and after your death, and then to implement the necessary plan and structure in a way that you fully understand.

A well formulated and managed trust can help ensure that assets are protected for the benefit of those that you want to benefit from those assets over time. Our trusts team has the expertise and capability across a broad range of trust matters and will provide expert legal advice to help you decide if a trust is the right option for you, and then to create and maintain the structure that best helps to protect your family’s assets now and into the future.

If you already have a trust and want to review the operation of it, and the value of it to you for your future asset planning, talk to a member of our trusts team. With our many years of experience across trusts and associated matters, we can work with you to review and then create and implement a plan that best meets your needs.

Having a will in place is essential if you want to be sure who is to receive your assets after your death. If you die without a will, your assets will be distributed according to a statutory formula under an expensive and lengthy process. If you have a will, but it was prepared without up to date legal advice, there could be a risk of challenge to your estate after your death - a potentially distressing and costly situation.

We have an experienced team able to ask the right questions to help ensure you meet your legal obligations, and put in place a will that distributes your assets according to your wishes.

Powers of attorney give legal authority to someone to act on your behalf should you be unable to act yourself. Just because you are in a relationship or married, that does not give your partner or spouse the power to make your decisions. There are two forms:

Property - gives legal authority to deal with all aspects of your property, including land, bank accounts, vehicles, insurances etc. This can be very useful to have in place if you are out of the country, or in the event that you are incapacitated due to health reasons; and

Personal care and welfare - gives someone legal authority to make decisions on your behalf about medical treatment and care for you.

A general power of attorney has effect only while you have mental capacity, while an enduring power of attorney continues to have effect once you have lost mental capacity.

Our experienced team can discuss the many options available to you, providing advice on the special conditions you might choose to include, and can attend to the formal witnessing requirements that must be complied with for the grant of power of attorney to be legally effective.

We have a broad range of experience and expertise in helping families transition wealth from one generation to the next, putting in place appropriate structures to maintain continuity for the next and subsequent generations.

We also have worked with clients setting up charitable trusts, and transitioning significant wealth into those trusts to enable the philanthropic wishes of the benefactors to be appropriately carried out.

A loved one passing away is always difficult, but we are here to support you through the legalities of estate administration. Our empathy shines through on all estate matters, from a smaller, personal estate to those involved in complex family structures.

Are you a landlord or a tenant? If so, we have the expertise to advise you in relation to your lease or tenancy agreement.

If you are making the move into a retirement village, then we will work with you and your family to ensure a smooth transition. This process could include moving into an independent villa, or an assisted care apartment, whichever option is best suited to your needs.