Aniela executed a Power of Attorney in March 2004 that appointed her son and grandson. She did a new Power of Attorney in 2006, this time appointing two grandchildren. Only 6 months later, in September 2006 she did her final Power of Attorney appointing her daughter Barbara. Barbara then used that Power of Attorney to take control of the family business. The grandchildren were quick to challenge the last Power of Attorney, claiming that Aniela did not have capacity to make it and that therefore Barbara did not have any power to control the family business. Queue a procession of witnesses, including family, friends, doctors and lawyers. Some saying Aniela did have capacity, some saying she did not. How was the Court to decide? THIS IS NOT CASE LAW

KOI [2011] TASGAB 7 An attorney - the person you appoint to manage your finances if you ever become incapable of doing it yourself - has a lot of power. Maybe that's why they call it "Power of Attorney"... In this case $175,000 was being held in trust for the benefit of an 81 year old man who didn't have much use for it. His son was his attorney and wanted to give the money to himself and his siblings. The son didn't know if he was authorised to do this as the attorney. So he sought the advice of the Guardianship and Administration Board of Hobart. THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE.

Case: Bovaird V Frost [2009] NSWSC 337 Monica and Max are siblings. In 1948, their father Walter died and Max was the executor of the estate. It was only in 2001 that Monica's son Leon discovered that Max had not given Monica her share of the estate. They reached a "gentleman's agreement" that Max would pay for his sister's accommodation and care for the rest of her life and that Max would provide a 10-year interest free loan up to $880,000 for the development and subdivision of Monica's property in Gordon. A year after that agreement was made, Max died. Was the agreement enforceable against Max's estate? THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE.

Case: Ballam v Ferro (No 2) [2022] NSWSC 1358 10; Ballam v Ferro [2022] NSWSC 1200 One morning in 2012, Rosario Maiorana executed his final will before a priest and a professor in Sicily. He left most of his estate to his surviving daughters Carmelina and Daniela. After Rosario’s death in June 2020, three of his grandchildren launched legal proceedings against the estate. Firstly, they claimed that the Will was executed in suspicious circumstances and that their grandfather did not have capacity to do a Will. Secondly, they applied for provision from Rosario’s estate. SPOILER: They were completely unsuccessful. But then it became an issue of who should pay the legal costs of the proceedings. THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE.

In the Estate of Milind Bedake [2015] ACTSC 267 Generally, the laws which you must abide by, or which dictate your affairs are the laws of the place where you live, your domicile. There is a presumption that everyone has a domicile and (generalising even further), unless you are a child, it will be the domicile of your choice. But there are situations where a person’s location may change without it being their choice, and this case is an example of that. Milind Bedake was living in ACT when he suffered a serious injury that left him with permanent cognitive impairment. He was moved to India where his father could take care of him. Several years later, Milind died without a Will. The question arose, what was to happen to his estate in the ACT. What laws applied? This all depended on where his domicile was at the date of his death.

CASE: Scott v Scott [2021] NSWSC 1619; Scott v Scott [2022] NSWCA 182; Scott v Scott (No 2) [2022] NSWSC 914 Coral Scott executed a new Will two months before her unexpected death. In that Will she made a small provision for two of her children Coralynne and Clifton, but left most of her estate to her daughter Charlene. What had Coralynne and Clifton done to lose their mother's favour? Or was it a question of what Charlene had said they did? THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE.

CASE: PGB [2014] NSWCATGD 32 Two daughters discover that their 92 year old mother has had her house sold out from under her, is on the verge of being evicted and has had her home care services cancelled due to non-payment. The person who should have been managing the mother's finances - her son and appointed attorney - was behind it all. The first step? To remove the son's powers so that he could no longer control the mother's finances. THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE

CASE: Liu v R [2023] NSWSSA 30 How should elderly offenders be punished by the criminal justice system? Should old age result in a shorter imprisonment sentence? Those are the questions that were considered in this case. Zhiyun Liu was 81 years old when he assaulted his wife and attempted to kill her. He pleaded guilty to causing grevious bodily harm with intent to murder and was sentenced to a maximum penalty of 25 years and a standard non-parole period of 10 years. He appealed against the severity of his criminal sentence arguing that the judge had failed to property consider his advanced age. WARNING: This episode contains disturbing details of violence. THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE. Link to Just in Case Law Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/633768175072329/

When a romantic relationship ends, the parties may need to divide their property and assets. The Family Court has jurisdiction to make property orders where there has been a breakdown of a marriage or de facto relationship.  If you are married, you show the Court the marriage certificate. But what do you need to show to prove a de facto relationship? The case of Swinbank v Stein [2022] FedCFamC1F 682 involved one party (Mr Swinbank) claiming that he had been in a de facto relationship with the other party (Ms Stein). Ms Stein denied this. Mr Swinbank wanted a division of assets, which he could only get if he first proved that a de facto relationship had existed. CASE: Swinbank v Stein [2022] FedCFamC1F 682 THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE.

CASE: The application of Jill May Morison; In the matter of Neil Walter Morison [2022] NSWSC 1758 In 1972, Neil Walter Morison went missing at the young age of 24 years. There was no reason for his disappearance, and he was never seen or heard from again. 50 years later, in 2022, Neil’s sister Jill applied for the Supreme Court of NSW to make a presumption of death ruling and to authorise her to deal with her brother’s $53,000 estate. If a person disappears leaving no trace, when can they be presumed to be dead and what happens to their estate? THIS IS NOTE LEGAL ADVICE.