Essential guide to estate planning
- 8 hrs
- Start Any Time
- Interactive
- From $599.00
- ID138_WEPA
Essential Guide to Estate Planning
Most estate planning matters appear straightforward until they are not. A valid Will can still be challenged. A carefully drafted estate plan can be undermined by an overlooked superannuation nomination. A testamentary trust can create disputes instead of protection if the structure is wrong.
This practical four-course bundle is designed for practitioners who want to strengthen their estate planning expertise beyond the fundamentals. Covering advanced Will drafting, family provision risk, superannuation succession planning, and testamentary trusts, the bundle provides a comprehensive framework for identifying risk, improving drafting outcomes, and delivering more strategic advice to clients.
What's Included:
Course 1: Advanced Will Drafting: Strategies for Complex Estates
- Explore the drafting challenges presented by blended families, business interests, conditional gifts, charitable bequests, and complex succession structures.
Course 2: Family Provision Claims: Proactive Risk Management for Estate Planning Practitioners
- Learn how to identify family provision risk early, advise clients effectively, and implement strategies that strengthen estates against future claims.
Course 3: Navigating Superannuation in Estate Planning
- Understand how superannuation interacts with estate planning, including binding nominations, SMSFs, blended families, and succession planning risks.
Course 4: Understanding Testamentary Trusts: Structure, Tax and Control
- Examine when testamentary trusts are appropriate, how they operate, the tax advantages they provide, and the drafting considerations that determine their success.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this bundle, you will be able to:
- Identify and manage risk in complex estate planning matters.
- Advise confidently on superannuation, succession structures, and family provision exposure.
- Draft more effective Wills and testamentary trust provisions.
- Recognise the estate planning decisions most likely to result in disputes.
- Assess when advanced estate planning strategies add genuine value.
- Deliver more holistic and strategic estate planning advice.
Designed For
- Wills and estates practitioners seeking a comprehensive refresher.
- Solicitors wanting deeper estate planning expertise.
- Lawyers advising on complex succession matters.
- Practitioners delivering holistic estate planning advice.
With contributions from:
Adeline Schiralli, Special Counsel and Accredited Specialist (Wills, Estates and Elder Law), Southern Waters Legal
Adeline is an Accredited Specialist in Wills and Estates Law in NSW and a legal educator with extensive experience developing comprehensive and practical estate plans that suit the individual circumstances of her clients.
Adeline is an Adjunct Lecturer at the College of Law, teaching in the Wills & Estates and Estate Planning majors of their Master of Laws (Applied Law) postgraduate degrees. Adeline also regularly presents seminars to lawyers (for their Continuing Professional Development “CPD”), financial advisors and the public in relation to Estate Planning and Elder Law.
INCLUDED COURSES
Most wills are not tested when they are signed. They are tested after death, when family dynamics, business interests, unclear drafting, and competing expectations collide. And that is where seemingly “simple” estate plans fail.
This course examines the estate planning matters that expose practitioners who rely on standard precedents and basic drafting assumptions. Blended families. Conditional gifts. Business succession structures. Charitable gifts that fail entirely because one clause was drafted imprecisely. These are not rare edge cases. They are increasingly common instructions that require practitioners to think strategically before they draft.
You will learn how to identify structural risks early, ask better questions at the estate planning appointment, and draft with greater precision so the Will operates the way the client intended when it matters most.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Draft effective giftover, contingent, and conditional gift provisions.
- Navigate complex blended family and life interest arrangements.
- Identify key succession risks involving businesses and trust structures.
- Avoid common drafting failures in charitable gift clauses and complex estates.
Designed For
- Estate planning practitioners seeking advanced drafting skills.
- Solicitors advising on blended families, trusts, and business interests.
- Wills and estates lawyers managing complex instructions.
- Practitioners looking to minimise drafting risk.
With contributions from:
Adeline Schiralli, Special Counsel and Accredited Specialist (Wills, Estates and Elder Law), Southern Waters Legal
Adeline is an Accredited Specialist in Wills and Estates Law in NSW and a legal educator with extensive experience developing comprehensive and practical estate plans that suit the individual circumstances of her clients.
Adeline is an Adjunct Lecturer at the College of Law, teaching in the Wills & Estates and Estate Planning majors of their Master of Laws (Applied Law) postgraduate degrees. Adeline also regularly presents seminars to lawyers (for their Continuing Professional Development “CPD”), financial advisors and the public in relation to Estate Planning and Elder Law.
Course Structure
- Giftover provisions, conditional gifts and contingent gifts
- Blended families and life interests
- Business succession and trust structures
- Charitable giving
Complete this course to earn 2 CPD units within the mandatory CPD category of Professional Skills.
Practitioners holding WA practising certificates are not eligible to earn CPD points for this course.
A perfectly valid will can still end in litigation. That is the reality of family provision law and one of the greatest risks in estate planning practice.
Many practitioners focus on whether a Will is legally valid. Courts focus on whether adequate provision was made for eligible claimants. The difference between those two questions is where estates become exposed and where practitioners are often criticised years later when the file is revisited in court.
This course shifts the focus from defending claims after death to reducing exposure before the Will is signed. You will examine the warning signs practitioners regularly miss, the client instructions that create the highest litigation risk, and the documentation and procedural strategies that place estates in the strongest possible position if challenged.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Identify the estate planning scenarios most likely to trigger family provision claims.
- Assess potential claimant risk and advise clients on exposure realistically.
- Implement drafting and procedural safeguards that strengthen estate plans.
- Understand how non-estate assets and ethical obligations interact with risk management advice.
Designed For:
- Estate planning practitioners managing family provision risk.
- Solicitors advising on unequal distributions and exclusions.
- Wills and estates lawyers seeking practical risk strategies.
- Practitioners wanting stronger documentation and processes.
With contributions from:
Adeline Schiralli,
Special Counsel and Accredited Specialist (Wills, Estates and Elder Law), Southern Waters Legal
Adeline is an Accredited Specialist in Wills and Estates Law in NSW and a legal educator with extensive experience developing comprehensive and practical estate plans that suit the individual circumstances of her clients.
Adeline is an Adjunct Lecturer at the College of Law, teaching in the Wills & Estates and Estate Planning majors of their Master of Laws (Applied Law) postgraduate degrees. Adeline also regularly presents seminars to lawyers (for their Continuing Professional Development “CPD”), financial advisors and the public in relation to Estate Planning and Elder Law.
Course Structure
- Understanding family provision claims
- Identifying risk: the estate planning appointment
- Responding to risk: documentation, drafting and procedure
- Non-estate strategies, costs, settlement and ethics
Complete this course to earn 2 CPD units within the mandatory CPD category of Professional Skills.
Practitioners holding WA practising certificates are not eligible to earn CPD points for this course.
For many clients, superannuation is their largest asset, and the Will does not automatically control where it goes.
That single misunderstanding sits behind countless failed estate plans. Clients spend years carefully planning their estate, only for their superannuation death benefit to bypass every instruction entirely because no one properly addressed nominations, trustee discretion, or fund structure.
This course is designed to help practitioners close one of the most dangerous gaps in estate planning practice. Without stepping into financial advice, you will learn how to identify superannuation risks, understand how death benefits are controlled, and integrate super strategically into the broader estate plan.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Explain how superannuation death benefits operate outside the estate.
- Identify risks associated with binding nominations and reversionary pensions.
- Navigate superannuation succession issues in blended families and SMSFs.
- Integrate superannuation strategically with Wills, testamentary trusts, and family provision risk management.
Designed For:
- Estate planning practitioners advising on superannuation.
- Solicitors working with high-value super assets.
- Lawyers advising blended families and SMSFs.
- Practitioners seeking more holistic estate planning advice.
With contributions from:
Adeline Schiralli,
Special Counsel and Accredited Specialist (Wills, Estates and Elder Law), Southern Waters Legal
Adeline is an Accredited Specialist in Wills and Estates Law in NSW and a legal educator with extensive experience developing comprehensive and practical estate plans that suit the individual circumstances of her clients.
Adeline is an Adjunct Lecturer at the College of Law, teaching in the Wills & Estates and Estate Planning majors of their Master of Laws (Applied Law) postgraduate degrees. Adeline also regularly presents seminars to lawyers (for their Continuing Professional Development “CPD”), financial advisors and the public in relation to Estate Planning and Elder Law.
Course Structure
- Getting started – knowing the basics
- Advising the client
- Administration of the estate
- Administration of assets
- Distribution to beneficiaries
Complete this course to earn 2 CPD units within the mandatory CPD category of Professional Skills.
Practitioners holding WA practising certificates are not eligible to earn CPD points for this course.
Understanding Testamentary Trusts - Structure, Tax and Control: Practice Guide
With contributions from:
Adeline Schiralli,
Special Counsel and Accredited Specialist (Wills, Estates and Elder Law), Southern Waters Legal
Adeline is an Accredited Specialist in Wills and Estates Law in NSW and a legal educator with extensive experience developing comprehensive and practical estate plans that suit the individual circumstances of her clients.
Adeline is an Adjunct Lecturer at the College of Law, teaching in the Wills & Estates and Estate Planning majors of their Master of Laws (Applied Law) postgraduate degrees. Adeline also regularly presents seminars to lawyers (for their Continuing Professional Development “CPD”), financial advisors and the public in relation to Estate Planning and Elder Law.
Course Structure
I found this course quite challenging, but have learnt much more about the practical part than I ever did during university.
On-demand CPD Learner
Straightforward. Easy to understand.
On-demand CPD Learner
RELATED COURSES
Administration of estates: Step-by-step guide
Drafting Wills: Practice Guide
Powers of attorney: Step-by-step guide
Probate applications: Step-by-step guide
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