ByLawyers News and Updates

Assisting clients to manage their affairs – All states

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Assisting clients to manage their affairs

With the threat and uncertainty surrounding the Coronavirus many practitioners will be asked to prepare documents assisting clients to manage their affairs should the need arise.

By Lawyers commentary and precedents for Wills, Powers of Attorney, Guardianship and Directives across every state of Australia are available to help practitioners to respond to these requests.

In brief:

  • A will provides for the administration and distribution of a person’s property in the event of their death.
  • A power of attorney enables a person to empower someone they trust to conduct their legal and financial affairs on request. However, this power ceases should the principal lose capacity to authorise its use. This power can be witnessed by any adult.
  • An enduring power of attorney enables a person to empower someone they trust to conduct their legal and financial affairs without specific authorisation should the principal become unable to conduct their own affairs. Note: This power requires specific witnessing.
  • An enduring guardian or a medical power or an advance care directive. These powers are similar to an enduring power of attorney in that they allow a person to choose someone they trust to manage their health and lifestyle decisions, but not their financial affairs, should they become unable to do so themselves.

Helpful resources

The By Lawyers Wills publications provide detailed retainer instructions which can also be signed as an informal will in emergency situations should the need arise. Otherwise a will should be witnessed by two uninterested parties over the age of 18. The By Lawyers publication provides signing clauses for wills by handicapped, blind, non-English speaking and illiterate testators.

Detailed signing instructions are available and can be emailed to the client with the will should personal attendance at the office be difficult or undesirable.

The guides contain a full suite of wills for single people, people with a partner and for people with blended families. There are testamentary trust wills as well as international wills.

Practitioners will also find a full suite of the other important estate planning documents, for both financial and health & lifestyle matters.

There are practical and detailed commentaries to assist the practitioner to quickly and efficiently advise their clients on any issue of concern to them.  The retainer instructions and ‘to do’ lists ensure thorough and complete attention to all relevant considerations.

For further information

Please don’t hesitate to contact us at askus@bylawyers.com.au

LEAP users – Getting the most out of your By Lawyers Guides and Precedents

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By Lawyers is Australia’s leading provider of practical Legal Guides, with over 140 Matter Plans, 7000 Precedents and detailed Reference Manuals in various areas of law. Our legal guides are designed to help you find answers quickly enabling you to work faster and smarter.

Legal Guides Tab

Using the Legal Guides tab properly is the key to getting the most out of each By Lawyers guide.

In the Guides and Precedents window, the Legal Guides tab is the best way to view and use By Lawyers content. Using the Legal Guides tab is an important risk management tool and we encourage all users to set Legal Guides as their default tab, instead of the Browse tab. This can be set in the ‘hamburger’ menu from the Legal Guides tab.

The Browse tab does not show the commentary, the layout is more difficult to navigate, and the precedents and folders do not always appear in the order intended.

The Legal Guides tab shows the relevant guide for the matter type associated with your matter and defaults to your last viewed folder in the guide. Each guide contains a Matter Plan which follows the typical flow of a matter, with precedents and commentary ordered sequentially, and less commonly used content appearing in ‘If required’ folders.

At the top of the Legal Guides tab, you will see:

  • a ‘Related Guides’ drop down;
  • a ‘Browse more guides’ button; and
  • a Search Bar.

Related Guides drop down

The Related Guides drop down will show other guides that are related to the current guide, including any Reference Manuals. For example:

 

Browse more guides button

If you are looking for a guide that is not related to your current matter type, you can search for and open any other guide from the ‘Browse more guides’ button which allows you to narrow your navigation and searching by state. Any precedent that you open from another guide will merge with your current matter and can be saved into this matter.

Search Bar

If you are unable to find a precedent after navigating the Matter Plan, you can use the Search Bar at the top of each guide. You can search both precedents and commentary, or you can confine the search to either precedents or commentary. For example:

If you are still having trouble, please contact our Client Services Manager on (02) 4858 0619 or by email at support@bylawyers.com.au who is always happy to help.

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