Book Review: Estate Planning-A practical guide for estate and financial service professionals

The authors state that this book is intended for (i) students wishing to practice in the trusts and estates field of legal, accounting, tax and financial services professions, and (ii) professionals who would like support to offer estate planning services in their practice or firm.

The logical organization of the book, the clear and eye-pleasing layout, the judicious use of blue and black text, the multidisciplinary approach and the various tables, summaries, case extracts and appendices all work to ensure that this book will most likely meet the needs of each audience identified by the authors.

The book is organized in 4 parts. Part one -“Essential Frameworks” contains the first two chapters which provide an excellent introduction to a strategic advisory engagement approach to estate planning and key management and operational considerations in implementing professional estate services. Chapter one includes an interesting consideration of the realities of family, kinship and connection; community and social accountability; client and family ability and capacity and client territorial connections.

Part two – “The Legal Environment” contains solid overviews of the law of succession in chapter 3, taxation of estates in chapter 4, law relating to property, equity and trusts in chapter 5 and the impact of contract law in creating assets, liabilities and obligations that affect a client’s estate in chapter 6. Unfortunately, in this chapter, the authors refer to the Trade Practices Act 1974(Cth) as the national code for control of competition, fair dealing and consumer protection. The enhanced former Trade Practices Act 1974 became the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) from 1 January 2011. The object of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 is to enhance the welfare of Australians through the promotion of competition and fair trading and provision for consumer protection.

The law of succession chapter provides useful comparison tables of legislative provisions relating to wills across Australia and deals with topics such as formal requirements of wills, wills of minors, witnesses, effect of marriage and divorce, revocation, alterations to wills, informal documents constituting wills, revival, court authorised wills for persons who do not have testamentary capacity, children predeceasing, rectification, principles of ademption, preparation and structure of a will, and intestacy.

Although the tables setting out comparable legislation are useful, in the reviewer’s opinion, the text would have been improved if less of a “New South Wales centric” view had been taken with the case law and legislative content. Although recognizing that this book is used in estate planning education in New South Wales, this approach may irk readers from other jurisdictions. This criticism applies to other chapters in the book which take this same approach.

Part 3, “Responding to Family Breakdown” contains useful material about issues that arise and strategies that can be followed in relation to family disputes both before and after death in chapter 7. Chapter 8 provides considerable detail about responding to changes in capacity and cognition, including a useful table setting out the position in each Australian jurisdiction relating to the necessity for registration of powers of attorney, recognition of powers of attorney from other jurisdictions and witnessing requirements. Another useful table compares the provisions relating to guardianship and advanced care across Australia. Chapter 9, “Estate planning in action” brings together concepts covered earlier in the book in a practical and user-friendly way. This is likely to be a particularly useful chapter for the practising professional who wishes to become involved, or increase their involvement in, estate planning.

The fourth section entitled “Responsibility” focusses on duties and responsibilities of clients and advisers in chapter 10.

The final section of the book contains extensive appendices which include useful pro formas and guidelines, flow charts, intestacy rules in various Australian jurisdictions and two relevant codes of conduct.

This book is clearly a text book and would be an invaluable resource for students of estate planning. The book would also have a place in the bookshelves of many estate planning professionals as a useful reference, particularly, in relation to the practical and multidimensional aspects of estate planning.