Hypotheticals by Manny Wood. Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 14 July 2018.
Margaret’s daughter, Penny is getting married to Chris.
Margaret gives them a unit that she had been using as an investment property as a wedding gift. The property is transferred into Penny and Chris’ names jointly and Margaret pays the stamp duty.
Tragically, during Penny and Chris’ honeymoon, they are involved in a car accident and they are both killed.
Penny was 30 years old and Chris was 28 years old when they died. They did not have any children and they had not executed wills.
With regard to jointly owned assets, Chris, by virtue of being younger than Penny was deemed to have “survived” her.
This means that the unit that was given to Chris and Penny by Margaret, forms part of Chris’ estate and in turn, Chris’ parents are entitled to the unit by virtue of being Chris’ next-of-kin.
Chris’ parents also receive the whole of Chris and Penny’s joint bank accounts.
Margaret is unable to make a claim against Chris’ estate and has no legal rights to pursue regarding the unit.
However, any assets that were in Penny’s sole name are dealt with differently. Because Chris did not survive Penny by 30 days, Penny’s assets pass to her next-of-kin, being Margaret and her estranged husband.
The only other asset of any significant value was Penny’s superannuation, which included a substantial life insurance death benefit. As Penny did not leave any dependents, the superannuation fund pays the death benefit to Penny’s estate and Margaret ultimately receives half of these funds.
Unfortunately, next-of-kin entitlements that arise in the absence of a valid will, are frequently unsuitable and can lead to serious injustice.
If you would like Manny to address a particular legal issue, send your request to manny.wood@ticliblaxland.com.au or call him on (02) 6648 7487.
