Case Studies
John and Elsie live in the countryside of Adelaide South Australia, with their two children. John purchased the family home before he met Elsie therefore it is only his name on the contract giving him complete ownership. For whatever reason he never got around to changing it to joint ownership despite being married to Elsie for 20 years, he also never got around to creating his Will.
Tragically, John is in a work accident, and does not survive. John’s estate, which consists largely of the family home, is worth around $600,000.
With no Will in place John’s estate is distributed according to the Administration and Probate Act 1919 which means that the first $100,000 will go to his wife Elsie, as well as half of the remainder of the estate ($500,000). The balance after what Elsie receives, $250,000, is then distributed amongst their two children. This means, a part of processing Johns estate includes paying this money to their children. This creates enormous stress for Elsie who either will need to borrow $250,000 by mortgaging the house to pay the children’s share of John’s estate or alternatively sell the family home.
This is an example of what can be avoided by having a Will in place.
Megan
Megan is a 52 year old teacher who lives on her own in Gippsland Victoria. Living in the country Megan has a healthy and active lifestyle. Unfortunately, Megan suffered some brain damage from a stroke and can no longer dress herself, or do every day duties such as drive or grocery shopping without assistance. It was decided by her specialist Megan is not fit to make daily decisions about medical treatments or her accommodation needs.
Megan has one adult child, Jacob, who she nominated as her Attorney for all her financial, legal and personal matters in the event that she was unable to make those decisions herself, which unfortunately is now the case. Megan also appointed Jacob as her Medical Treatment Decision Maker.
Due to her brain injury Megan can no longer live on her own and as Megan’s Attorney, Jacob uses his power to find her suitable accommodation somewhere close by.
Unfortunately, Megan suffers a second stroke soon after moving into her new accommodation and lapses into a coma. Her prognosis is not good, and her doctors believe she will not recover. Any medical treatment she will receive will not result in her improvement; it will only prolong her life.
As Megan’s Medical Treatment Decision Maker, Jacob is the one who must decide to continue treatment or not. Fortunately, Megan has prepared an Advance Care Directive where she made her preferences very clear if these circumstances ever occurred, which was not to use exceptional medical measures to prolong her life. This took an impossible decision out of Jacobs hands as he was simply passing on his mothers wishes to medical professionals so he himself alone did not have to make the difficult decision to stop treatment, finding what comfort he could by the fact that he was acting in accordance with his mother’s wishes.