Harwood Andrews is delighted to have been identified by clients and peers for expertise and abilities in the 2024 Doyles Guide, Victoria.

Harwood Andrews is delighted to have been identified by clients and peers for expertise and abilities in the 2023 Doyles Guide, Victoria.

Harwood Andrews is delighted to have been identified by clients and peers for expertise and abilities in the 2022 Doyles Guide, Victoria.

Do you own a unit in Noosa, a villa in Tuscany, or a ski-lodge in Japan, or hanker for such luxuries?
It is increasingly common for people to own assets in other states or other countries. This can create complications for their wills and estates.

A deceased person’s ‘estate’ includes assets such as property, bank accounts and investments. The deceased person may also have liabilities including a mortgage, credit cards or other loans that need to be repaid.

Owning property is a big deal. Owning property with another person(s) is an even bigger deal. It is quite common for people who are married or in long term relationships, friends, siblings, or parents and children to pool their savings together to purchase property.

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has released a Draft Addendum to a current GST Ruling (GSTR 2012/3) regarding the GST treatment of care services and accommodation in retirement villages and privately funded nursing homes and hostels.

There have been some recent legislative changes governing the operation of retirement villages.

The Retirement Villages (Records and Notices) Regulations 2015 take effect from 12 December 2015 and revoke the previous sets of regulations.

The Full Court of the Tasmanian Supreme Court has decided that a solicitor who failed to warn his client about a potential claim against his estate and what steps might be taken to undermine the claim is negligent. 

On 1 September 2015, new powers of attorney came into effect in Victoria.

In the following article we outline some of the changes that now apply.

On 1 September 2015, the Powers of Attorney Act 2014 (The Act) introduced new civil and criminal penalties for misuse of an enduring power of attorney. The penalties include a fine of up to $91,000 or up to five years imprisonment.

The witnessing requirements for an enduring power of attorney have now changed.

The signing of an enduring power of attorney by the principal (the person giving the power) must be witnessed by two people

From 1 September 2015, a new type of power of attorney is now available - Supportive Attorney

From 1 September 2015, new powers of attorneys will come into effect in Victoria.

Congratulations to Facebook for introducing a system to allow some management of a person’s Facebook account after the person’s death.

In Victoria the law prevents a person who has unlawfully killed another person from benefiting under the deceased person’s will.  This is called the Forfeiture Rule.  An exception applies where the killer is found not guilty by reason of mental impairment.

Victoria now has legislation which adopts the provisions of the UNIDROIT Convention Providing a Uniform Law on the Form of an International Will.

You may think your succession planning is complete if you have prepared a will, successive appointors to your trusts and appointed a Power of Attorney. But it’s not!

The Victorian government passed the Justice Legislation Amendment Act on 16 October, just before the deadline was crossed before it moved into caretaker mode.

The Act includes significant amendments to the laws governing the contesting of wills, that is, claims by those who consider that a will has not properly provided for them.

When people talk about their estate plan the first thing that usually comes to mind is their will. Most of us are pretty good at making plans for what happens if we die but more often than not we fail to plan for the possibility of losing capacity.