Barrister-at-Law
NEWS
Upcoming
STEP QLD
At the end of 2022, I stepped down as a member of the STEP Qld Committee, having had the privilege of serving on the Committee for 5 years, including as Deputy Chair.
I continue to be involved in STEP, in particular as the Chair of the STEP Australia Policy and Advocacy Committee. This committee is very active with incredibly engaged members putting together submissions to various levels of government in relation to matters affecting the practice of Trusts and Estate professionals and their clients. A constant topic of conversation is the taxation of deceased estates.
In June 2023, I presented a paper at the inaugural STEP Australia Incapacity Conference. The paper focused on the capacity to marry in the lens of the testamentary consequences of marriage.
Cross Border Estates
In 2017, I undertook an Advanced Certificate in Cross Border Estates run through STEP. The course focused on the difficulties encountered in estates where assets may be located in different jurisdictions. Those difficulties include issues in determining which jurisdiction's law applies to the succession of individual assets (including the differences in Civil Law countries and Sharia Law countries) and the tax regime that might apply. I am pleased to announce that I obtained a distinction in the course.
In 2020, I put the knowledge gained in this course to practical use in relation to parties in Iran. The deceased was domiciled in Australia at the time of his death leaving a young wife who had yet to obtain her visa to join him. This dispute required a working knowledge of Sharia Law as well as the law in Queensland. I have also been involved in a number of estate disputes involving people/property in various European countries.
Mediation Services
In 2022, I completed the training to become a Nationally Accredited Mediator and I look forward to completing the assessment and being accredited so that I can provide mediation services together with my usual practice in law.
News
Re Nichol; Nichol v Nichol
[2017] QSC 220
An interesting Will case - in this instance, the Court found an unsent text message was a Will.
Radford v White [2018] QSC 306
Continuing on the theme of interesting methods of creating a Will - in this case, it was declared that a video recording formed a Will.
Cross-border issues with Enduring Powers of Attorney
Recently, together with a colleague from the STEP Australia Policy and Advocacy Committee, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by a journalist from Accounting Times about issues that can arise with using an Enduring Powers of Attorney in a State or Territory different from the one in which it was prepared.
A link to the article can be found here:
Baker v Baker [2019] QDC 92
In this case, the Judge gave some sage advice about the way evidence is required to be provided in applications for provision from estates and made some comments about my soapbox issue - costs.
Revocation of PD 8 of 2001 by the Supreme Court of Queensland
On 11 March 2024, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland issues a Practice Direction revoking many earlier Practice Directions.
One such Practice Direction was the long-standing PD 8 of 2001 which set out the approach that was to be taken when conducting applications for provision pursuant to section 41 of the Succession Act 1981 (Qld).
A replacement for this PD has not been made. It appears that the current approach is that, like any other application, the Applicant should seek a return date on the Originating Application. It is highly likely that this return date would be generally utilised to make directions for the conduct of the matter.
This may be beneficial to the parties to ensure the efficient conduct of the proceeding, something not always achieved in these matters.
The almost identical District Court of Queensland PD 8 of 2001 currently remains in force.