Estate Litigation: Getting the Strategy Right – a recorded lunchtime online conference

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: Negotiating and Drafting Terms of Settlement in Wills and Estate Matters

Negotiating and settling wills and estate disputes require refined skills. This session looks at what these are, with practical advice on implementation. It includes:

• Understanding the timing of negotiations and its practical effects
• Process and procedure in disclosing financials
• Determining the property pool
• Having some bargaining power whilst maintaining ethics and fairness
• Knowing when to reach the settlement middle ground
• Construction of terms of settlement - what to put in and what to leave out
• How to ensure terms of settlement are binding
• Case study - a settlement agreement checklist

Session 2: Privilege, Confidentiality and Disclosure in Estate Litigation

Legal practitioners acting for a deceased estate in a dispute over a will drafted by the same practitioner continue to be the subject of judicial scrutiny. This session will examine some of the issues and developments in this challenging area, including:

• The application and relevance of client confidentiality following death
• Legal professional privilege and deceased estates
• Obligations of and issues for a solicitor acting for the estate in a disputed will case as:

• Will drafter
• Legal adviser
• Witness

• When will a conflict of interest arise? Should a solicitor who drafted the will refrain from acting in a claim against the will?
• What advice should be given to the legal personal representatives?
• Can legal personal representatives waive the confidentiality and privilege of the deceased?
• If and when should the will drafting file be provided to the other side? Hughes (as executor of the will of Gardiner)(dec’d) v Gardiner (No 3) [2018] VSC 414: Re Estates Brooke-Pain and Soulos [2019] NSWSC 671; Grove v Simon Dirk Kenworthy-Groen [2021] WASC 70
• A guide for practitioners on disclosure and privilege in estate litigation.

Session 3: Making Sense of Costs in Estate Litigation

The courts are increasingly warning practitioners of the need to consider proportionality in estate litigation and their duty to clients before and during dispute initiation and management. This session will examine how costs have become a highly significant consideration in estate litigation not only for litigants but also personally for practitioners, including:

• Who bears the costs in estate litigation?

• Are the courts bound to follow the costs rules?
• Judicial discretion in costs – what do the courts look at?
• Unpacking the proportionality principle: Olsen v Olsen [2019] NSWSC 217; Harris v Harris [2018] NSWCA 334
• Lessons for executors behaving badly: Nobarani v Mariconte (No 2) [2018] HCA 49
• What does a practitioner need to tell a client about the risks and costs of litigation?
• When will a practitioner be personally liable for costs?
• Lessons in assessing reasonability and reality in the face of client pressure
• When is it time to settle?
• Recent cases including The Estate of Milan Zlatevski; Geroska v Zlatevski (No 2) [2020] NSWSC 388; Re Veca [2015] VSC 74; In the estate of Amuso (No 2) [2021] SASC 61; Re Howden; Howden v Rackshaw [2020] VSC 315; Trinder v Ciniglioi [2020] QSC 176