Estates
Dispute Mediation
“Let Us Help You Setle Your Estate Dispute, The Wise Way”.
The loss of a loved one is always difficult on a grieving family. However litigating an
estate is even more difficult for those family members involved in the dispute.
Often family relationships are destroyed following estate litigation and this can affect
families not only in the immediate but for future generations.
Not only is estate litigation costly to the family relationships, it is also very costly to
the estate as it usually reduces the estate considerably after legal costs. So there is
less of the estate left for distribution after legal costs.
If there is a dispute in the estate of a deceased loved one and you want to try to
resolve it with the least damage to the family relationships, then mediation is one of
the best ways to resolve an estate dispute.
Our Wise Mediators can help grieving families through this difficult time by facilitating
discussions in a calm, neutral and non-confrontational atmosphere. We help the
parties identify the issues, and help the parties generate options to reach a
settlement of the estate dispute.
The sooner this can be done, the better the outcome can be for all.
Our Wise Mediators can help you resolve your estate dispute, The Wise Way
Did You Know?
Did you known that Estates can be vastly reduced after the legal costs of all the
lawyers are taken out of the estate funds?
Costs of estate litigation are usually paid from the estate of the deceased,
which means it leaves less for all the beneficiaries overall.
Estate litigation can often go on for several years, which can tear apart the family relationships after the death of a loved one and resonate through future family generations. It is also even more difficult to be entrenched in estate litigation after the death of a loved one and whilst family members are still in grief.
Our professional mediation services can help restore peace to grieving families by helping family members resolve their estate dispute in a calm non-adversarial environment of mediation.
Our Wise Mediators
Our Wise Mediators are Nationally Accredited mediators in accordance with the National Mediation Accreditation
Standards (“NMAS”) attaining and maintaining mediation
training and competency standards in Australia.
The Australian NMAS Standards of Mediation Accreditation are
also used by neighboring countries of the Asia Pacific Region.
We are dedicated to helping grieving families during this difficult
time to resolve their Estate Dispute by mediating, The Wise Way
Why Mediate with Wise Mediations?
Our Wise Mediators help grieving families resolve their estate dispute in a a calm, neutral and non-confrontational atmosphere.
We work with the parties to help them identify the estate issues, generate different options to settle, and helping the parties reach mutual agreement to settle their estate dispute, “The Wise Way”.
We help parties focus on the future and solutions so you can all move forward, rather than creating more conflict and blame which only makes things
worse and ends in costly litigation.
If a settlement is reached, then we can provide a draft document of the settlement agreement reached at mediation in the form of a Heads of Agreement document. This document can be used by the parties to formalise the settlement as either a Deed of Settlement or Final Orders by Consent to settle the Estate Dispute. This is usually drafted by the legal representatives for the Estate which is signed by all the parties.
Our Modern Online Mediation
Our modern online video conferencing mediation service is a securely encrypted
online platform with virtual mediation rooms.
We provide the convenience of mediation online, where we can video conference,
share documents, electronically sign documents securely with Adobe PDF verified
signatures, and also share a virtual whiteboard.
You can use your desktop, laptop, iPad or tablet to mediate online.
Online mediation is modern, convenient and cost effective, where you can mediate
in the privacy of your home and eliminate the need to travel anywhere
So regardless your location in Australia, we can mediate with you online.
Our Document Drafting Service
We provide a document drafting service.
Our Wise Mediator can provide you with a document draft that reflects the
mutually agreed estate settlement reached at mediation
We can provide a Heads of Agreement document draft which can be used by the parties for formalize the estate settlement reached in mediation, by way of a
Deed of Settlement or Final Estate Orders by consent.
Any party can seek to mediate an estate dispute, and mediation can occur early without the
need to resort to litigation.
If you are a named beneficiary, or if you have been left out of a will but have legal grounds as a family member to make an application for family provision, we can help you convene a private mediation to try and help the parties and executors come to a settlement of the dispute without the need to litigate.
If the matter is already in litigation, then we can still provide mediation services if the parties agree to mediate. Usually parties are required to mediate as part of the pre-actions before a litigated estate matter is listed for a final hearing.
The costs of the mediation are usually paid as an expense of the estate.
Mediation can also be done during the litigation process whereby it it is a required step for the parties to mediate the Estate Dispute before the matter can be set down for a hearing date.
For grieving families, sometimes mediation sooner rather than later can help the parties to each reflect on the issues and help the parties move forward in an attempt to resolve the Estate Dispute instead of resorting to litigation
A Family Provision claim in an estate dispute is an application to the Supreme Court of the relevant State that is seeking that a provision be made from the Estate of the deceased to either a spouse, a child or a dependant of the deceased, as defined in the legislation of the relevant State for Estates and Succession.
A Family Provision application is made on the basis that the gift from the Estate (if any) is not adequate in the circumstances, and if not adequate then a provision is sought on the basis of the applicant’s financial circumstances, contributions by the applicant to the estate, the relationship with the deceased, and wishes of the deceased.
Mediation can be done at any time, including if you are contemplating commencing a Family Provision Application, mediating before filing such an application
An Equitable Claim in an estate dispute is a claim by a person that may not meet the requirements of a Family Provision Claim for relationship to the deceased, or dependency on the deceased.
An equity can be on the basis, for example, of financial contribution by the claimant to the estate of the deceased; or work done for no wages by the claimant for the deceased on the promise that they would receive from the estate in the future; or an asset of the claimant held by the deceased for other reasons.
It can be a claim based on an equitable estoppel (be it either promissory estoppel or a proprietory estoppel) or constructive trust.
Estoppel means “to prevent” and in estate disputes usually means to prevent a party from acting in a way that is inconsistent with prior conduct by that party to the other party.
A promissory estoppel, for example, is where the claimant can show they relied on a promise by the deceased and that reliance was to the claimant’s detriment and it can be shown that it would be unconscionable if the promise was not kept by the Estate of the deceased.
A proprietory estoppel, for example, is where the claimant can show they made some significant alteration or improvement to a property on the basis of a belief encouraged by the deceased that the claimant would have some entitlement to the property in the future from the Estate.
A constructive trust, for example, is where it can be shown that the claimant and deceased had a mutual intention that the claimant would have some interest in the property of the deceased, and the claimant relied on this mutual intention to their own detriment.
Mediation can be done at any time, including if you are contemplating commencing an application
- Heads of AgreementA Heads of Agreement is a document that sets out the essential terms of an agreement reached by the parties to settle a dispute, which the parties use to formalise any required legal document such as a Deed of Settlement or an Estate Court Order by Consent. A Heads of Agreement is not a legally binding document, and the parties must take the additional steps to formalise the agreement to make it legally binding by formalising it as a Deed of Settlement with all the terms of the settlement specified, or by making an application to the Court for an Estate Court Order by Consent to finalise the matter if before the Courts.
- Deed of SettlementA Deed of Settlement is a legal document that formalises the agreement between all the parties and is an alternative to litigation. All the parties agree to the terms of the settlement to finalise the matter and all the parties must sign the Deed of Settlement. A Deed of Settlement helps parties avoid court litigation and instead settle their matter to the terms that they all agree to which can include terms of confidentiality, to protect the privacy of the agreement for the parties involved.
- Estate Orders by ConsentIf the Estate Dispute is being litigated and is resolved by the parties at mediation, then the settlement details including a draft of the final orders sought usually needs to be provided to the Wills and Estates List judge. Usually the Court will advise whether the sought settlement orders by consent can be made by the Court on the papers without any further applications made to the Court, or whether the sought settlement orders by consent need to be filed with an application to the Court. If the sought settlement orders are accepted by the Court, then the Court will issue a final court order detailing the settlement and formalising it as a final court order to end the matter.
Reaching Agreement
Let our Wise Mediators help you both resolve your
Estate Dispute, The Wise Way
So you can move on and have a chance at restoring family relationships
after the loss of a loved one.
Mediate your Estate Dispute with Wise Mediations
"Peace is not the absence of conflict. It is the ability to handle
conflict by peaceful means."
Ronald Reagan
