How would you feel if your estate went to a complete stranger, someone you’d never even met, instead of going to your children? It’s more likely than you might expect. Protecting your children’s inheritance is about good planning – and that can only happen through pragmatic awareness and recognition of what is legally possible…

Wran died in April last year (2014) aged 87 after suffering dementia. He left a fortune estimated to be worth up to $40 million, largely made up of an impressive property portfolio. This estate is at the heart of a dispute within his extended family. ..

Let’s take the example of who gets a man’s estate if he dies while having both a wife and a mistress. If the man dies without leaving a will and his relationship with the mistress was longer than two years, then the question of who is entitled to a share of the estate falls under Sections 123 and 125 of the NSW Succession Act 2006…