There are two main examples where someone's Will might be set aside partly. Now, the first is if someone makes a will or a new Will when they lack what we call testamentary capacity. If someone's got dementia and another family member takes them and says, "Oh, you know what? We're going to cancel your old Will and leave all the money to me," well, obviously that's an example where we can come along and help people to challenge your will because it's been made by someone who lacks the necessary mental capacity to make a new Will. They're often cases of undue influence. Medical certificates can be used later as evidence to show that someone had been suffering dementia.

Now, the second example, and this has got thousands of years of history about it, is that if someone dies and they don't leave an adequate provision for someone who they had a moral duty to look after, then that person can say to the court, "I didn't get left enough money." So if someone died and left all their money to the cat home rather than to their spouse and their young children, naturally everyone would say, "Well, those people need to go and challenge that will and get more money for their proper maintenance."

Now, in Victoria, there's a very limited number of people who can make such a claim. It's your spouse or a de facto, a former spouse or a de facto, children, registered carers. It's a very narrow group of people and they have to show the court that there was some moral duty to look after them, and also that their financial circumstances mean that they're entitled to get more out of the will than what it says.

Now, we have a lot of expertise in this area. We've defended claims and we've brought claims. So if you've got any queries whatsoever about a Will or your current Will or your estate plan, don't hesitate to contact us. I'm Ross Millen from Millens leading the Millens team in wills and estates. Thanks very much.

We have a bit of a problem in Victoria, we've got a brand-new tax. Now, you mightn't have heard of this, and it could be a big worry if you're a property owner. It's not a new tax, but it's been expanded so much that it's now going to catch hundreds, thousands more properties. This is called the Vacant Residential Land Tax, and new legislation came in only in mid-December, but it applies this year.

In this short video, I talk about what this means and the exemptions that might apply to you.

To help you Millens have prepared a Vacant Land Tax Guide to get it - click here

Watch the video below to find out the resolutions that are done by savvy business people. If you don't plan then you are not going to reach your goals in 2024.

Hi. I wanted to talk to you today about challenging a Will. It sounds very like a Dickens novel or something that you might read about in the paper, or perhaps it'll be the next thing to replace Succession on a television series, but actually it's a very important thing. And why does this happen? Well, the law recognizes that sometimes you have a responsibility to provide for certain people in your Will. So if you've got children who you're looking after, perhaps even with disabilities, you can't leave all your money to the cat home, unfortunately. So, Millens has a lot of experience in this area, not me personally, but Angela Costin in our office has a lot of experience in dealing with claims. And so therefore, if you feel that you haven't been properly provided for in someone's Will, please contact us, contact me, or contact Angela in my office, and she can advise you about your rights and what you can do about it.

But a second part of this is people come to us and they want to have their estate planning carried out. They might be concerned that a child that they are estranged from is going to bring a claim later when they die. So we've also got very good strategies for putting things in place to prevent claims being made. So from both sides, we can help you make a claim and we can help you prevent or reduce the risk of claims being made. So remember, if you've got any questions about Wills, challenging Wills, or preventing your Will being challenged as part of your estate planning, contact me, Ross Millen at Millens. We're here to help. Thank you.

Hi. I had an interesting situation the other week. Someone was buying a business and I mentioned a stock figure to them, and they said, "What's stock?" Now, this took me quite by surprise, because I would've thought if you're buying a business, you'd understand what stock is, all the bits and pieces that you're selling through the business, et cetera, as opposed to plant and equipment. So stock to me was a very simple term that I understood, but my client didn't. Then I had another situation where someone was talking about sub-renting part of their premises, and I said, "Well, you need to get a copy of the head lease." And again, they said, "Well, sorry, what's a head lease?" And I thought, again, this is really odd to me because I completely understood what a head lease was, but they didn't.

So it got me to thinking, how many simple terms are there that myself and a whole lot of lawyers take for granted that you commercial people don't know what we're talking about? Sometimes we'll have a building contract and we're talking about PC this and PC that. And someone looked at me one day and said, "Well, sorry, is this political correctness? What is it?" And I said, "No, it's practical completion." So the question really is, what are some of the terms that you hear but you don't quite understand? So never be scared. There's no silly questions. If, as lawyers, we're using expressions or terms, or there's something in your contract you don't quite understand, remember to ask us and we can explain it to you. We don't mind explaining, because the more explanation we give, the better you understand and the better transaction you have.

So perhaps there's something that you don't quite understand. You can send me a message, you can ring us. What is the term that you don't understand that you'd explained to you? I'm Ross Millen from Millens. Got any questions? Contact us.

It's Melbourne in June, and being outdoors is a bit chilly, but nothing as chilly as forgetting to do your distributions before the end of the financial year out of your trust.  Trust distributions are only effective for tax purposes if the trustee resolution is made this financial year.

You need to consider now with your accountant or with us, what is the best way to distribute the income out of your family discretionary trust, and do the distribution resolutions before the 30th of June. One thing that some of our clients have fallen foul of in the past is making distributions to beneficiaries that aren't truly beneficiaries. Sometimes you think, "Oh, I've got a company over here that's got some losses. I'll take the income out of the trust and I'll push it over here." Only to find out after a few months when you look at it closely that that company is technically not a beneficiary for some reason.

Watch the video to avoid being caught out.

In this short sharp video, I share what is a life plan.  Plus the five areas that smart, wealthy people make sure they have covered. 

When should your dispute antenna come up? Last week I had a call from someone who had a dispute but failed to seek legal help early enough causing them enormous stress and money.  In this video, I share the common signs when it's time to seek legal advice.

Some believe going to your lawyer will cost more money.  It's like trying to fix your car yourself.  If you want to be safe, you go to a mechanic.  If you want to make safe, commercially smart decisions and continue sleeping at night, get a legal opinion.

If you have a situation that may turn into a dispute,  whether this is business or personal reach out for a quick chat

Hi. I realized the other day that some of our clients don't understand if they're entitled to an exemption for stamp duty when they buy a property. This came about because we had a husband and wife purchase a property, and naturally they wanted it in both of their names, that's the normal thing. And we inquired and we found out that the wife had never owned a property before, she was a first home buyer. And so we pointed out that if they bought it together they wouldn't qualify for the first home buyer's exemption or concession, whereas if they just bought it in the wife's name, then they would get that, and then later on a husband, or in this case the wife, can transfer the property free of duty to the husband and wife jointly without any further stamp duty. So we were able to save our clients quite a lot of money and they didn't have to pay the duty.

So there are lots of exemptions and concessions you can apply for. Pensioners can get an exemption. Also, if you're transferring a property out of a trust over to beneficiary of the trust, provided you tick all the boxes, you can get that stamp duty exempt. We've also done farm transfers where a property is coming out of a partnership or a trust, or some other structure like that, out to the actual farmer, and in that case there are also exemptions. So don't pay too much duty. If you're in doubt, give us all the details, we can analyze the situation for you, and we can let you know whether you're entitled to stamp duty exemptions when you purchase properties.

So I'm Ross Millen from Millens, and if you've got any questions about buying property or stamp duty concessions or exemptions, don't hesitate to contact us. Thank you.

Recently I had a client call after the tax office kept chasing her up for the tax return for a trust. She said she didn’t understand why they were chasing her because the trustee had been deregistered last year.   I told her that the trustee and the trust were two separate things. It reminded me that there is sometimes confusion out there around trusts and trustees.

In this short video, I give you a simple understanding of the role of trust and trustee and the two types of trusts.  Also I discuss the role of the important person the “appointor “ and what happens if this person dies. This video will help you understand if a trust is the right way to structure your business and boost asset protection.

Today I talk about Corporate Governance.  What not to do with your processes and controls?

Described as the most unprecedented lack of corporate governance, the train wreck collapse of the 2nd largest Crypto Trading Company.

Plus what do you need to do to make sure you are doing it properly?  I  share the 2 most important tips to ensure you have the right processes and controls in place to meet the requirements of the Corporations Act in Australia. 

With the DIN compliance date looming by November 30, I talk about how to apply, the circumstances where you may not need one and whether you should apply for an extension.

Today I have my trusty feather duster to outline what needs cleaning this Spring in your business. I talk about DIN dates, your ASIC registered office, workers' compensation and payroll tax.  Are they up to date?

Imagine lending your child money to buy a house and then their marriage ends in divorce! Or your child becomes bankrupt? Some well-meaning parents have been left without enough money for their own retirement. In this short and sharp video, Ross talks about how to avoid the pitfalls when lending money to your children.