Succession - JURD7493
Faculty: Faculty of Law
School: Faculty of Law
Course Outline: See below
Campus: Sydney
Career: Postgraduate
Units of Credit: 6
EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)
Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 4
Enrolment Requirements:
Pre-requisites: Equity & Trusts (LAWS2385/JURD7285) and Land Law (LAWS2383/JURD7283) OR Property, Equity & Trusts 1 (LAWS2381/JURD7281) and Property, Equity & Trusts 2 (LAWS2382/JURD7282).
Excluded: LAWS3393
CSS Contribution Charge: 3 (more info)
Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule
Further Information: See Class Timetable
View course information for previous years.
Description
Why do succession?
You should do succession if you ever plan to be a solicitor, because the public expects solicitors to know about this. This includes solicitors in large firms. As everybody dies – no exceptions – this area of law never goes away. It is a difficult area of law to learn by yourself because it is such a complex mixture of statute, common law, canon law and equity law and it is easy to make small but significant mistakes. Succession planning for individuals, families and businesses is a central plank of solicitors’ work and this course gives a very thorough and practical grounding.
Recommended Prior Knowledge
Course Objectives
- To develop your intellectual understanding and curiosity sufficiently to connect different doctrinal areas of law as they pertain to the law and culture of inheritance
- To recognise the factors in the law of succession which serve people's interests or fail them. (This includes recognising factors which shape the laws regarding inheritance and recognising where changes in those factors are likely to alter the needs of clients in matters like estate planning).
- To develop drafting and communication skills which are specific to the needs of succession law as well as those which apply more widely. This applies particularly to the will drafting exercise which is highly recommended to students.
Main Topics
- Introduction - history and nature of Succession
- Comparative Succession Law
- Intestate Succession ( succession where there is no will)
- Death and the body in succession law
- Testate Succession or the Law of Wills
- Family Provision
- Grants of Representation and some Powers and Duties Legal Personal Representatives
- Administration of Assets
Assessment
Will drafting exercise (50%)
Exam or essay (40%)
Course Texts
Prescribed
- Croucher and Vines, Succession: families, Property and death, 4th ed, 2013
- Supplementary materials (both available from Moodle)
- Probate and Administration Act 1898 (NSW)
- Succession Act 2006 (NSW)
Recommended
These books are available in the Law Library and in Law Reserve:
- Certoma, The Law of Succession in New South Wales, 3rd ed, LBC, 1997
- Geddes, Rowland and Studdert Wills Probate and Administration Act, LBC, 1996
- De Groot and Nickel Family Provision in Australia and New Zealand, 2nd ed LexisNexis Butterworths, 2001
- Dickey Family Provision After Death, LBC, 1992
- Finch, Mason, Masson, Wallis and Hayes Wills, Inheritance and Families, Clarendon UP, 1996
- Lee Manual of Queensland Succession Law, 5th ed., LBC, 2001
- Cassidy, J Mutual Wills, Federation Press, Sydney, 2000
- Haines, D Succession Law in South Australia, Lexis Nexis Butterworths, Sydney, 2003
- Lewis, R Elder Law in Australia, LexisNexis Butterworths, 2004
- Mackie and Burton Outline of Succession, 2nd ed., Butterworths, 2000
- Mason and Handler Wills, Probate and Administration Service – NSW (looseleaf), Butterworths
- Parkinson (ed) Principles of Equity, 2nd ed LBC, 2002
- Rowland, Hutley’s Australian Wills Precedents, 6th ed, Butterworths, 2003. This book is highly recommended.
- Sherrin and Barlow Williams’ Law Relating to Wills, 6th ed. Butterworths, London, 1991
- Woodman Administration of Assets, 2nd ed., LBC 1978.
- Vines, The Aboriginal Wills Handbook: a practical guide to making culturally appropriate wills. NSW Trustee Guardian, 2013.
Study Levels
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