The Western Australian Court of Appeal recently handed down its decision in Hill v Zuda Pty Ltd [2021] WASCA 59. It provides a strong answer to the question of how long a binding death benefit nomination can last for in ALL Australian jurisdictions. Facts Ms Hill was the only child of Alec Kumar Sodhy (Deceased). [read more]
Key facts The case of Re Owies Family Trust [2020] VSC 716 (Owies) provides many lessons for trustees and advisers dealing with discretionary trusts. This article focuses on one key issue raised in Owies, being the limited variation power that did not allow for a number of purported variations. Owies involved a dispute between the [read more]
The recent New South Wales Supreme Court decision of G v G (No. 2) [2020] NSWSC 818 (G v G) provides important guidance on the limitations that apply to trustees and managers of protected estates in dealing with superannuation investments, including in relation to making super contributions and binding death benefit nominations (‘BDBNs’). In this [read more]
Introduction Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, legislators across the states and territories have been passing temporary legislation to allow for documents to be signed and witnessed using technology. At the date of this article, Victoria (‘Vic’), New South Wales (‘NSW’) and Queensland (‘QLD’) are still the only jurisdictions to make provision for deeds [read more]
Where a relationship breakdown has occurred between spouses, the parties’ superannuation entitlements may be subject to an overall family law property settlement. Typically this involves one spouse agreeing to or otherwise being required to give up some of their superannuation benefits in favour of the other spouse based on appropriately drafted orders or financial agreements. [read more]
When considering six member SMSFs, the Senate Economics Legislation Committee has hinted at an important trap that advisers must remember. Background On 27 April 2018 the then Minister for Revenue and Financial Services Kelly O’Dwyer MP announced that the government would expand the limit on the maximum number of members in SMSFs from four to [read more]
![An important reminder when drafting deeds: Wilstead No. 5 Pty Ltd v Smyth [2020] VSC 651](https://www.dbalawyers.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/An-important-reminder-when-drafting-deeds-Wilstead-No-5-Pty-Ltd-v-Smyth-2020-VSC-651-200x200.jpg "An important reminder when drafting deeds: Wilstead No. 5 Pty Ltd v Smyth [2020] VSC 651")
The recent Victorian Supreme Court decision of Wilstead No. 5 Pty Ltd v Smyth [2020] VSC 651 serves as an important reminder when drafting SMSF deeds. These days many non-lawyers — such as accountants and financial planners — draft deeds by populating websites that instantly generate deeds with no lawyer review or sign off. We [read more]
Deeds are vital to the SMSF industry. Most SMSFs will be established by deed. Subsequent variations to the deed/governing rules of an SMSF, as well as a range of other documents, will typically be contained in a deed. Accordingly, it is vital that SMSF advisers know what is required for a document to be a [read more]
Overview The prospect of six member SMSFs has moved a step further when the Treasury Laws Amendment (Self-Managed Superannuation Funds) Bill 2020 (‘Bill’) was recently introduced into Parliament. If the Bill is finalised as law in November, the increase to the maximum allowable number of members for an SMSF could commence as early as 1 [read more]
DBA Lawyers offers industry-leading pension documentation. In this article, I set out several key benefits of using pension documentation from DBA Lawyers. Our expert lawyers regularly review and revise our documents Our documents are regularly reviewed and revised to ensure they reflect the latest superannuation, tax and related practical and strategic developments. Each suite of [read more]
