Wills & Estates

Our specialist Wills & Estates team is dedicated to helping you protect your legacy, care for your loved ones, and navigate complex legal issues with clarity and confidence. Whether you’re planning ahead for the future, managing the estate of a loved one or dealing with an estate dispute, we offer expert advice tailored to your needs with a focus on strategy, empathy and discretion.

We assist you to ensure your assets are distributed according to your wishes on your passing and your loved ones are protected. We can work with you to prepare or update your wills (including simple wills and testamentary trust wills), enduring powers of attorney, appointments of medical treatment decision maker, advanced health care directives and other essential documents, ensuring you have peace of mind for the future.

Our specialist team can also provide advice in relation to:

• Asset protection (including protection in the event of divorce).
• Corporate entities (including who will control them on your death).
• Your superannuation entitlements (including the preparation of binding death benefit nominations).

Trusts are very important tools for asset protection, tax planning or care of vulnerable beneficiaries. We provide expert advice on establishing and managing all types of trusts, including discretionary family trusts, unit trusts, charitable trust and special disability trusts.

Additionally, our specialist team can advise you regarding the administration of trusts including:

• Changing the trustee of a trust.
• Variations to a trust deed.
• Advice regarding the management/administration of the trust.
• Vesting (ie ending a trust).
• Disputes between beneficiaries and trustees.
• Applications to the Supreme Court of Victoria for judicial advice about a trust or a lost trust deed.

We advise families and individuals on guardianship and administration applications in the Victorian Civil & Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), elder abuse concerns, and substituted decision-making on behalf of persons with a disability. We approach elder law matters with sensitivity and a commitment to preserving dignity and autonomy.

Specifically, our wills & estates team can assist with:

• Applications to VCAT for the appointment of a guardian or administrator.
• Compensation applications (to address funds misappropriated by an attorney).
• Applications to VCAT to approve transactions by an attorney on behalf of a principal.
• Applications to VCAT for advice about an enduring power of attorney.

From applying for a grant of representation to distributing an estate, our specialist team guide executors and administrators through every step of the estate administration process. We ensure compliance with the executor/administrator’s legal obligations while making the process as smooth and stress-free as possible.

If an estate is complex or there is a dispute amongst the executors/administrators, then our team leader, Ines Kallweit is often nominated as a Court appointed administrator to ensure the estate is administered in a timely manner.

Disputes over wills, inheritances or estate administration are becoming increasingly common. When they arise, our expert team acts swiftly and strategically and where possible our focus is on resolving the dispute whether through negotiation or litigation. We specialise in advising in relation to:

• Claims pursuant to Part IV of the Administration and Probate Act 1958 (Vic) (i.e. family provision claims or testator family maintenance claims).
• Contests or disputes as to the validity of a will (i.e. due to lack of testamentary capacity or undue influence).
• Applications to the Supreme Court to remove an executor.
• Applications to the Supreme Court for advice about an estate.
• Applications to the Court about executor’s commission.
• Superannuation disputes to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) regarding the payment of death benefits.

Additionally, if a family member or beneficiary has a disability, then our team leader, Ines Kallweit is often appointed by the Supreme Court as a litigation guardian to represent the interests of a person with a disability.

We appreciate that your time is valuable, and for this reason, we are happy to offer consultations by telephone, skype, or email, to suit your needs.

You can also start the process of your Wills or Probate and Estate Administration consultation by engaging in our interactive forms online. Initially you will be asked a series of questions about your situation and asked to nominate matters you wish to specifically address. The second stage of our interactive form will ask you detailed questions regarding your current circumstances, or the circumstances of the estate. If you wish to progress and meet with one of our lawyers, those instructions will then be provided in summary to our lawyers, to ensure that your first meeting with them is meaningful.

You will not be charged for using our online form.

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The ABC podcast, The Pineapple Project, features an informative and (dare we say it) entertaining series about the practicalities around death. Click here to access the podcast.

Our Wills & Estates team is widely recognised as one of the best in the country, having received the following accolades:

• Doyles Guide: Leading Wills, Estates & Succession Planning Law Firms – First Tier (Victoria, 2024-2025) (ranked Second Tier from 2019-2022 and Third Tier in 2018).
• Doyles Guide: Leading Wills & Estates Litigation Law Firms – First Tier (Victoria, 2024-2025) (ranked Second Tier from 2019-2013 and Third Tier in 2018).
• The Best Law Firms in Australia: trusts and estates (Tier 1, 2025, 2026).