Private Client Practice

Our experienced team can provide you with a comprehensive strategy to manage the safe transition of your wealth to your intended beneficiaries.

When looking at your estate planning requirements, our team work alongside your existing advisors such as your accountant or your financial planner to ensure that whatever plan is put in place achieves your ultimate goals.

Our advice and plans are comprehensive and take into account all assets, and our lawyers have significant experience in dealing with family business succession issues. 

Some of the issues and documentation we can advise on include:

• wills and testamentary trusts
• general asset protection and structuring advice
• enduring powers of attorney, including limiting risks of elder abuse
• issues regarding loss of capacity
• advice on payment of superannuation death benefits
• business succession plans, including shareholder and buy-sell agreements
• business continuity plans in case of loss of capacity or death
• advising on existing trusts – how will they operate post death or on loss of capacity?
• agri-business and family succession plans
• lineal descendant trust advice
• protecting inheritance from creditors
• minimising risk of inheritance being subject to a claim by a former spouse of a beneficiary
• planning to minimise risk of people “challenging” your will
• advanced health directives
• advising medical professionals on issues that are specific to their industry and situations
• special disability trusts and related structuring. 

Our team has extensive experience in all areas of estate and trust litigation. We understand and appreciate the difficult nature of this type of litigation and we aim to get a cost effective resolution early on in matters, although, whilst this is desirable it is not always achievable.

We act for executors, beneficiaries and any other interested party to a proceeding.

We guide you each step of the way and make the process as easy as possible for you with our clear communication and accessibility.

We can assist you with all types of litigation including:

• family provision applications (where someone feels their inheritance is inadequate)
• constructive trust and proprietary estoppel claims (for example where someone has worked in the family business for years without market salary)
• applications to remove executors
• seeking directions from the court on behalf of executors
• applications for the constructions of a will
• informal will applications
• statutory will applications
• pursuing estate funds which have been misappropriated by an attorney
• power of attorney disputes
• applications to the guardianship and administration tribunal
• capacity of a testator when making a will
• capacity of a person effecting a transaction
• solemn form probate applications (disputing a person being granted probate)
• trust litigation and administration (for example where someone disputes a trustee's decision. 

Our lawyers provide expert and concise advice to assist with the administration of estates, and also offer assistance where a family member has lost capacity.

Our lawyers can provide compassionate assistance on the following:

• probate or letters of administration (where a person dies without a Will)
• crisis management when a person has died unexpectedly, including urgent advice on immediate steps to be taken
• making urgent applications to the court for limited grants of probate where access to bank accounts is required or grant required for business to continue to operate
• assistance in business continuity and succession issues on unexpected loss or incapacity of key person, including advice on directorship appointments
• advice to executors
• application to the court to make a wills for someone who has lost capacity
• elder abuse issues where monies are missing or enduring power of attorney has been misused
• superannuation advice including payments of death benefits
• collection and distribution of assets
• working with existing advisors to ensure consistent outcomes are achieved
• dealing with difficult family members and working with them to ensure risk of dispute is minimised
• dealing with nursing homes and refund of any bond
• superannuation claims, including both retail and self-managed super
• winding up of business assets
• transfer of assets pursuant to deeds of family arrangement
• dealing with jointly owned assets
• interrogating misuse of enduring power of attorney
• creditors and professional indemnity issues
• winding up medical practices on death of practitioner. 

Holding Redlich can provide the full range of legal services required by a self managed superannuation fund (SMSF).

Our team includes an SMSF specialist advisor and works collaboratively with other Holding Redlich teams in tax and revenue, property and corporate and commercial to deliver practical outcomes for our clients in the following areas:

• compliance advice
• strategic and structuring advice
• documentation
• dealing with Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

Some of the issues and documentation we can advise on include:

• establishing or updating and winding up an SMSF
• incorporating special purpose trustee companies and changing trustees of SMSFs
• compliance advice, including necessary dealings with the ATO, on all aspects of the Superannuation (Industry) Supervision Act 1993 and regulations
• preparing pension documents
• binding death benefit nominations
• setting up limited recourse borrowing arrangements, including reviewing loan documentation
• advice regarding SMSFs participating in property development
• advice and establishment of investment structures including pre-99 unit trusts, unrelated unit trusts, ungeared unit trusts and private companies.

One of our areas of specialty is in intergenerational family business transitions and structuring.  As family business enterprises face some unique challenges, we work closely with businesses of all sizes to assist with long term business and succession planning, including resolving disputes between family members that arise during the transition process.

Our private client team also works closely with our Agribusiness team to assist primary producers with the process of passing family farms from on generation to the next.

See more about our taxation expertise and services here. 

See more about our immigration expertise and services here.