Adelaide Office
17 Sturt St,
Adelaide 5000 SA
Tel: 08 8231 1110

Clare Office
245B Main Rd,
Clare 5453 SA
Tel: 08 8842 1132

Port Augusta Office
14-16 Gibson St,
Port Augusta 5700 SA
Tel: 08 8642 5122

Whyalla Office
5 Forsyth St,
Whyalla 5600 SA
Tel: 08 8644 0300

Roxby Downs Office
1A Tutop Centre Tutop Street,
Roxby Downs 5725 SA
Tel: 08 8642 5122

Wills & Estates

Estate planning is critical to ensure an effective transfer of your assets after your death and to safeguard your family’s financial security.

Wills
Preparing a Will is the best way to ensure that once you die your family members and other loved ones are properly provided for.

Our Wills and Estates Team can help you prepare a Will that complies with the legal requirements of the Wills Act, appoints Executors (the person who will finalise your legal and financial affairs) and is legally signed. We can also advise on ways to reduce the risk of someone challenging your Will after you die.

Our Wills and Estate Team can also advise on tax effective wills incorporating testamentary trusts, and advise on issues such as protective trusts for incapacitated beneficiaries, guardianship clauses, maintenance of minor children and provision for the children of prior marriages or relationships.

Power of Attorney
If, due to illness, accident or other circumstances, you lose your ability to make decisions for yourself or because you are unable to do so (e.g you are travelling overseas or you are hospitalised) then you can appoint people to ensure that your financial and legal affairs are managed in your best interests.

You can only sign a Power of Attorney whilst you have legal capacity.

An Enduring Power of Attorney is a legal document which gives the person of your choice the power to manage your legal and financial affairs while you are alive. If, for example, you lost your mental capacity, or were going overseas or required hospitalisation, signing a Power of Attorney would allow someone you trust to act on your behalf. You can give a person the power to act on your behalf, manage your legal and financial affairs generally, or you may wish to limit the circumstances in which they have power to act (for example, to sell your house, to operate a bank account, to act on your behalf for a limited period of time or to control your business affairs).

Power of Guardianship
If you lose the ability to make decisions for yourself, you can also consider appointing people to act as your guardian by executing a Power of Guardianship.

You can only sign a Power of Guardianship whilst you have legal capacity.

A Power of Guardianship is a document that allows you to appoint a person to make lifestyle, accommodation and medical decisions for you should you become mentally incapacitated and may include directions in relation to the medical treatment that you are to receive in the event that you are terminally ill.

Estate Administration

If you have been named as an executor in the will of a person who has since died, or you are the next of kin of a person who has died without a will, the lawyers in our Wills and Estates Team will be able to assist you to administer the estate.

We can help you:

  • Identify the assets and liabilities of an estate
  • Obtain Probate or Letters of Administration
  • Pay the debts of the estate
  • Attend to asset transfers and sales
  • Help attend the registration of death on any jointly owned assets (eg real estate)

Contested Estates

Johnston Withers also has considerable experience in dealing with contested estates. We act, for both plaintiffs and defendants where the validity of the Will itself is in dispute or where further provision is sought pursuant to the Inheritance (Family Provision) Act despite the Will being otherwise valid.