With our ageing population, succession law is a growing area of practice for legal practitioners. The course examines the law governing succession to property after the death of the owner. Succession law touches every family, and, eventually, all of us.
Major topics include:
- the nature of wills and their relationship to contracts;
- capacity to make a will, fraud on the testator, undue influence, formalities for making a will and how a will is revoked;
- what wills mean and how they are applied;
- the principles and practice of drafting wills;
- loss of capacity to benefit under a will, for instance, for killing the testator;
- how an estate is divided when there is no will; a
- nd how the law protects family members against being disinherited by a will.
The law on the various topics is considered in a social and political context, and the principles and rules are related to theory and to practice. While the course concentrates on the law of the ACT, students will also frequently make comparisons and consider the law in other jurisdictions. It follows that considerable attention is given to pressures and directions for reform.
Textbooks:
Presecribed Texts:
Rosalind Croucher and Prue Vines, Succession: Families, Property and Death (5th ed: LexisNexis Butterworths, 2018).
Recommended Reading:
Ken Mackie, Principles of Australian Succession Law (3rd ed, Lexis Nexis, 2017).
This information is correct at the time of publication and although we endeavour to pre-empt any planned new editions; the class summary will provide the final textbook edition confirmation.