Managing Difficult Will Dispositions and Testator Intentions in the Succession Plan – a recorded lunchtime online conference

Duration: Approximately 2.5 Hours

Hear from the experts at this online conference. You can watch it on your computer or on your portable electronic device from anywhere.

The conference will be based on our highly successful video webinar technology: there'll be a chairperson and presentations.

One registration can be shared by colleagues within the same firm utilising the same login.

THE PROGRAM

Session 1: The New Frontier: Digital Currency Disposition

The increasing availability and popularity of digital currency means that practitioners need to be on top of estate planning and administration process for clients with these holdings. This session provides a guide for asset recognition, estate planning and disposition, including:

• What are digital currencies and how and where are they held?
• A guide to the most common terms, asset types and associated technologies including:

• Cryptocurrency
• Bitcoin
• NFT’s
• Blockchain

• What questions do you need to ask your clients for asset identification and disposition intention on death?
• Inventory preparation and determining value
• What information does your client need to give you?
• Drafting digital currency asset disposition in the will – key issues and risks
• Planning for access in the event of death or incapacity
• Challenges in administering an estate with digital assets
• Is the law keeping up with digital currency asset holdings and disposition?

Session 2: Be Careful What You Wish for: Statements of Wishes in the Firing Line

A letter or statement of wishes accompanying a will can be a helpful tool for an executor or trustee, but also has the potential to cause discontent and lead to challenges. This session provides a tool kit for practitioners in drafting statements of wishes and a guide to avoiding the problems that can accompany these personal letters, including:

• When should a will-maker include a statement of wishes? Advantages and disadvantages discussed
• Timelines for creation and review of a statement of wishes
• What matters should be included and in what detail?
• Drafting tips and traps including using statements to explain exclusions and intentions in gifting
• What form should the statement take? Does it need to be signed or sworn?
• Are statements of wishes confidential and who can they be disclosed to?
• To what extent are statements bindings on the executor and how should they be treated?
• Does a statement of wishes form part of probate?
• Key lessons from cases

Session 3: Charitable Bequests: Relying on Good Drafting instead of Faith and Hope

Charitable giving through a bequest in a will can seem simple, but numerous challenges can arise between the drafting and final administration of the will. This session will provide practitioners with a guide to the tips and traps of charitable bequests and how to avoid the more common problems that can derail the best intentions, including:

• Features of a charitable bequest
• The impact of the law concerning not-for-profits and charities on bequests
• Charities and charitable purpose distinguished
• Taking instructions and clarifying intentions
• Drafting tips for conditional and specific gifts and executor discretion
• When is it appropriate to contact or confer with the nominated charity?
• Case studies of failed charitable bequests and how to avoid common problems
• Foreshadowing contested wills and invalid gifts and providing other options to the will-maker
• Tax implications and other financial issues
• Cy-pres orders and other remedies
• Recent cases including Re Coghlan;Merriman v Attorney-General for the State of Victoria [2020] VSC 392