With our ageing population succession law is a growing area of practice for legal practitioners. The course examines the law governing succession to property after the death of the owner. Succession law touches every family, and, eventually, all of us.
Major topics include:
- the nature of wills and their relationship to contracts;
- capacity to make a will, fraud on the testator, undue influence, formalities for making a will and how a will is revoked;
- what wills mean and how they are applied;
- the principles and practice of drafting wills;
- loss of capacity to benefit under a will; for instance, for killing the testator;
- how an estate is divided when there is no will; and
- how the law protects family members against being disinherited by will.
The law on the various topics is considered in a social and political context, and the principles and rules are related to theory and to practice. While the course concentrates on the law of the ACT, students will also frequently make comparisons and consider the law in other jurisdictions. It follows that considerable attention is given to pressures and directions for reform.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to:1. Recognise, interpret and apply the basic principles of the Law of Succession;
2. Define, outline and apply the detailed rules of Succession law in relation to relevant legal principles in a few selected areas;
3. Describe, summarise and critique some of the social and political pressures and imperatives that drive the development of the Law of Succession;
4. Describe and contrast the relationship and interaction between the Law of Succession and other areas of law such as Taxation, Estate Planning, Contract Law, Family Law, Property Law and the Law of Trusts;
5. Explain, analyse and synthesise the practice of the Law of Succession in selected areas, and the relationship between law and practice; and outline and apply the principles of Will Drafting.
6. Explain and summarise the relationship between detail and principle in a substantial piece of independent written work;
7. Interpret and apply principals of ethical practice and professional responsibility in the practice of Succession Law.
Indicative Assessment
Seminar writing tasks (20%, 1000 words)Drafting a will/or a research assignment (30%, word limits in study guide)
Take-home exam (50%, 2,700 words)
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Workload
Three contact hours per week. Students are generally expected to devote at least 10 hours overall per week to this course.Requisite and Incompatibility
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
If you are a domestic graduate coursework or international student you will be required to pay tuition fees. Tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 3
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are an undergraduate student and have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). You can find your student contribution amount for each course at Fees. Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2017 | $3216 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2017 | $4590 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
Second Semester
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9845 | 24 Jul 2017 | 31 Jul 2017 | 31 Aug 2017 | 27 Oct 2017 | In Person | N/A |