Better Together, Even When Clients are Apart: Synergies between Estates and Family Law

In this program, Jennifer and Matthew discussed the areas of intersection between wills and estates and family law, including when family lawyers and wills and estates lawyers should be consulting one another. They also discussed important topics where cooperation is vital, including

Family Law Act elections:

• What are they?

• Process and deadlines

• Information that clients need to know to make an informed choice about whether to elect, and obligations and responsibilities for counsel for the estate and the surviving spouse

Gifts and inheritances from the family law perspective:

• The critical role of timing and form for inheritances

• How to opt out of the Family Law Act’s default treatment of excluded property to protect

what is important to your client and their family

• How and when the estate lawyer should approach conversations about domestic contracts

Trusts:

• Is an interest in a trust property from the family law perspective?

• How to treat trusts from income and property perspectives under family law

• Drafting considerations

Integrating family law contracts and the estate plan