Helping families with Wills, Power of Attorney and Enduring Guardian documents. Your local Wills and Estate Lawyers on the Central Coast.
CopperTree Family Law can draw up your Will, Power of Attorney and Enduring Guardian documents. These legal documents help to give effect to your wishes in the future.
A will is the one legal document that speaks for you when you can’t speak for yourself. Get it right and your family inherits clarity. Get it wrong — or leave it out of date after a separation, a re-partnering or a property settlement — and you leave them a dispute.
CopperTree Family Law prepares wills, powers of attorney and enduring guardianship appointments for families across the Central Coast, and we assist executors who have been handed a role they never asked for and have never done before according to our culture and law.
We are a family law firm. That matters more than it sounds. We spend our working lives on separation, blended families, children’s arrangements and property settlements — which means we see the estate planning mistakes that general practices miss.
Comprehensive Wills and Estate Planning Services focused on protecting assets, managing succession, and ensuring your estate is distributed according to your wishes.
Drafting Your Will
A clear, valid will under the Succession Act 2006 (NSW) that names your beneficiaries, appoints your executor, and covers guardianship of young children and funeral preferences.
Updating an Existing Will
Marriage, separation, divorce, a new partner, a new child, a property sale or a finalised settlement can all change who should inherit — and in some cases change the legal effect of your will automatically.
Powers of Attorney
Appointing someone you trust to manage your financial and legal affairs, including enduring powers of attorney that continue if you lose capacity, and limited appointments for a single transaction.
Enduring Guardianship
Appointing a person to make lifestyle, health and medical decisions on your behalf — where you live, what treatment you receive — if you can no longer make them yourself.
Executor Assistance
Practical, step-by-step support for executors: understanding your duties, identifying assets and liabilities, and working out whether you need probate.
Wills to Probate
Guiding executors of Central Coast estates through the Supreme Court of NSW probate application, from the notice of intended application to the grant.
If you die without a valid will in New South Wales, you die intestate. The law — not you — then decides who receives your assets, using a fixed order of relatives set out in the Succession Act 2006 (NSW). That order may look nothing like your intentions. A long-term partner you never married, a step-child you raised, a charity you supported, a friend who cared for you — none of them are guaranteed anything. Two situations we see repeatedly in local families:
You have children from a previous relationship and a new partner. Without careful drafting, your estate can pass in a way that unintentionally disinherits one group entirely.
Separation alone does not undo your will. Many people separate, get on with life, and never revisit the document that still names a former partner. Divorce and marriage each have specific legal effects on a will in NSW — and those effects are narrower than most people assume. If you have separated, divorced or re-partnered, your will needs a review, not an assumption.
Your will names your beneficiaries — the people or organisations who receive your assets. You have broad freedom in NSW to choose them. That freedom is not unlimited.
Certain people are eligible persons who may bring a family provision claim against your estate if they believe they haven’t been adequately provided for. In NSW, such a claim must generally be brought within 12 months of the date of death. Spouses, de facto partners, children, former spouses and some dependants and household members can be eligible.
Good drafting reduces this risk. It won’t always eliminate it, and any lawyer who promises a challenge-proof will is overpromising. What we can do is document your reasoning, structure gifts sensibly, and make sure your will doesn’t hand a claimant an easy argument.
Drawing up a Power of Attorney allows somebody else to manage your assets and financial affairs while you are alive. This gives you peace of mind that someone you trust will be able to make financial decisions on your behalf and may also allow them to make these decisions if you later lack the capacity. You can also make a Limited Power of Attorney so that somebody can act for you on specific financial matters (such as buying a house) while you are on holiday or overseas. Contact us so we can discuss your options.
While a Power of Attorney takes care of financial decisions, you may want to appoint an Enduring Guardian to make lifestyle, health and medical decisions when you are not capable of doing this yourself. They might include decisions about where you live and what medical treatment you receive. Appointing an Enduring Guardian is an opportunity to communicate your wishes about these matters as well as having somebody to advocate for you in the future. Contact us so we can walk you through it.
Our Erina office is central to the whole Coast. We regularly act for clients in:Erina & Gosford corridor — Erina, East Gosford, Gosford, West Gosford, Point Clare, Springfield, Narara, Lisarow Coastal south — Terrigal, Wamberal, Avoca Beach, Kincumber, Green Point, Saratoga, Davistown, Empire Bay Peninsula — Woy Woy, Umina Beach, Ettalong Beach, Blackwall, Booker Bay North & lakes — The Entrance, Long Jetty, Bateau Bay, Killarney Vale, Berkeley Vale, Wyong, Tuggerah, Ourimbah, Toukley, BudgewoiWe also assist clients in the Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and Sydney regions, and can consult by phone or video where attending Erina isn't practical.
Separations, blended families, settlements and children’s arrangements are our daily work. When we draft your will, we’re drafting it with the family dynamics in view — not just the asset list.
We’re genuinely local.
Our office is in Erina on The Entrance Road, not a Sydney CBD tower with a Central Coast phone number. We meet clients in person, and we know the local accountants, financial advisers and conveyancers you may already be working with.
We explain the executor’s role before you appoint one.
Most people name an executor without knowing what they’re asking of that person. We’ll talk through what the job actually involves so your choice is an informed one — and so your executor isn’t blindsided later.
We act for executors as well as testators.
If you’ve been named executor of a Central Coast estate, you don’t need to work it out alone from a government website at midnight.
You’ll get a written costs disclosure before we start. No surprises.
Anonymous
2 years ago
I would highly recommend Cheryl for your family law needs. She is professional, efficient, committed and friendly to work with. Cheryl will endeavour to achieve the best outcome for you.
I would highly recommend Cheryl for your family law needs. She is professional, efficient, committed and friendly to work with. Cheryl will endeavour to achieve the best outcome for you.
Ely M
1 year ago
Very good I recommend to my friends and family all the time.
Very happy with the advice Cheryl gave and provided peace of mind.
From my experience I found them easy to deal with and straight to the point with advice…. which is all you really want in these sort of matters
A will is a legal document setting out how you want your assets distributed after you die and who you appoint to carry that out. In probate, the will is the document the Supreme Court of NSW examines to confirm its validity and to authorise the executor named in it to administer the estate. Without a valid will, the estate is administered under the intestacy rules instead.
An executor is the person named in a will who is legally responsible for administering the estate — collecting assets, paying debts and taxes, and distributing the remainder to the beneficiaries. You can decline the appointment if you don’t want the role, but once you begin acting you take on fiduciary duties to the beneficiaries.
An executor’s duties are to locate the will, arrange the funeral, identify and protect the estate’s assets, identify its liabilities, apply for probate if required, pay the estate’s debts and tax, keep proper accounts, and distribute the estate to the beneficiaries. Throughout, the executor must act impartially and in the beneficiaries’ interests.
No — an executor is not personally liable for the deceased’s debts, which are paid from the estate’s assets. However, an executor can become personally liable if they distribute the estate before its debts, tax and valid claims are resolved, if they personally guaranteed a debt, or if their own negligence causes the estate a loss.
Probate is a grant from the Supreme Court of New South Wales confirming that a will is valid and that the executor has authority to administer the estate. When applied to a will, probate means the court has formally accepted that document as the deceased’s last valid will. Banks, share registries and land registries generally require a grant of probate before releasing or transferring significant assets.
No. Probate is often unnecessary where assets were held jointly and pass automatically to the surviving owner, where the estate is small enough that the bank will release funds without a grant, or where the main asset is superannuation paid directly to nominated dependants. Whether probate is needed depends on what the estate holds and how it was held.
Once an application is filed, a grant of probate is commonly issued within a few weeks where the paperwork is complete and uncontested, but administering the estate afterwards usually takes several months to a year. A notice of intended application must be published before filing, and a waiting period applies. Complications like a missing will, a contested application or hard-to-value assets extend the timeline. [Verify current Supreme Court processing times before publishing]
Yes. An application for probate in NSW is generally expected to be made within six months of the date of death. If you apply later than that, the court will require an explanation for the delay. Separately, a family provision claim against the estate must generally be brought within 12 months of the date of death.
“Personal representative” is the general term for anyone legally authorised to administer a deceased estate. An executor is a personal representative appointed by the will; an administrator is one appointed by the court where there is no will or no executor able to act. Their duties are broadly the same.
An executorship is the legal office a person holds while acting as executor of a deceased estate. It begins at death, is formally confirmed by a grant of probate where required, and ends once the estate is fully administered and distributed to the beneficiaries.
Yes. It is very common and entirely lawful for an executor to also be a beneficiary — a spouse or adult child is often both. The executor must still administer the estate impartially and cannot use the role to advantage their own share over other beneficiaries’.
If the original will cannot be found, the estate is not automatically treated as intestate. Search the deceased’s papers, their bank’s safe custody, their accountant, and any solicitor who may have prepared it, as law firms and the NSW Trustee & Guardian commonly hold original wills. If the original is genuinely lost but a copy survives, the Supreme Court can sometimes admit the copy to probate, though this requires evidence about how the original was executed and lost.
Separation on its own does not change your will at all. Divorce and marriage each have specific legal effects on a will in NSW, but those effects are narrower than most people expect and they do not reliably produce the outcome you’d want. If you have separated, divorced or re-partnered, treat your will as needing review rather than assuming the law has fixed it for you.
Review your will every three to five years, and immediately after any major life event — marriage, separation, divorce, a new partner, a birth, a death in the family, a finalised property settlement, buying or selling property, or starting a business. A will that no longer reflects your circumstances is one of the most common causes of estate disputes.
You can legally make your own will in NSW, but will kits are a frequent source of expensive problems — invalid witnessing, ambiguous wording, assets that no longer exist and beneficiaries who can’t be identified. The cost of a solicitor-drafted will is almost always far less than the cost of the estate dispute a defective one causes.
Both. We advise executors of Central Coast estates on their duties, help them work out whether probate is required, prepare and file the probate application, and guide them through paying debts and distributing the estate correctly.
Our office is at Suite 23, 90–96 The Entrance Road, Erina NSW 2250. We act for clients across the Central Coast — including Gosford, Terrigal, Woy Woy, Wyong, Kincumber, The Entrance and Ourimbah — and also assist clients in the Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and Sydney regions.
At CopperTree Family Law, we protect and advocate for your interest at all times, while advising you of the legal framework under which your needs will be considered.
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