Grandparents and grandkids sitting on a wharf

Smart Succession

With billions in assets set to pass between generations,our six-part series simplifies the daunting world of inheritance planning.

Latest

Sam Monkivitch

He dined and dashed in Hong Kong. Now a $300,000 inheritance is missing

Australian lawyer Samuel Monkivitch’s restaurant runners pale against allegations of manipulation and misappropriation in his home town of Melbourne.

  • Lisa Visentin
Some women,particularly those from older generations,spend most of their lives “outsourcing” their financial decisions to their male partners.

Australian women will inherit trillions. Here’s how to prepare now

Australian women are set to inherit 65 per cent of the $5 trillion in inheritance to be passed down in the coming decades.

  • Dan F Stapleton
Trying to look after both your children and your ageing parents can be a difficult task.

Part of the ‘sandwich generation’? Here’s how to spend an inheritance

If you’re lucky,inheriting in midlife – perhaps from a beloved aunt or a grandparent – can make things simpler. But it can also complicate things.

  • Dan F Stapleton
The NSW Supreme Court heard the mother said she was motivated by “spite or resentment” when she cut her children out of her will.

A Sydney mother cut her kids out of a $2 million inheritance. They fought back

In a handwritten note,she said that “spite or resentment” had motivated her. A judge said the mother’s rejection of her children continued beyond the grave.

  • Michaela Whitbourn
With more of us passing on our inheritances while we live,an increasing number of Australians are looking beyond the family tree when estate planning.

What to do (and what to avoid) when you receive an inheritance

An inheritance,expected or otherwise,may represent the largest sum of money many of us have ever received. Here’s how to manage it when it happens.

  • Dan F Stapleton
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The final paper trail:How to make your executor’s job easier

Where there’s a will,there’s an executor – the person who manages your estate when you’ve died. Who do you choose for this important role,and how can you help smooth their way?

  • Madeleine Heffernan
Controversial billionaire Pierre-Edouard Stérin

French billionaire pleads for Napoleonic law change so he can disinherit his children

Controversial billionaire Pierre-Edouard Sterin,who has been labelled the “French Elon Musk”,is calling for changes to the law.

  • Tara Patel andAnia Nussbaum
Your notes app is a useful place to jot down all sorts of ideas – just not your will.

Want your last wishes honoured? Don’t draft your will in your Notes app

While it might be tempting to consider leaving the legalities for “later on”,there are good reasons why you shouldn’t attempt to prepare your will yourself.

  • Emma Blay
Graham Richardson,pictured also with his daughter Kate,at the NSW Labor conference in 1994.

Graham Richardson’s final vanishing act:A penniless estate

His daughter has spoken about the Labor kingmaker’s fractured family and how the only remaining assets in his estate included a Lexus and two mysterious wedding rings.

  • Harriet Alexander