Bianca is a Senior Associate in our Property & Development Team, advising in all areas of succession law, including estate planning, estate administration and estate litigation.
Experience & expertise
Bianca has been advising on succession law for the entirety of her career.
Her estate planning experience includes drafting wills (including testamentary discretionary trusts), special disability trusts, enduring powers of attorneys, advance health directives, superannuation and life insurance beneficiary nominations and mutual will agreements. She advises on the risk of family provision and ways to reduce risk through strategic estate planning. She also reviews corporate structures and provides advice about succession planning for family trusts, companies, self-managed superannuation funds, and partnerships.
Bianca sensitively guides clients through the administration of deceased estates from start to completion. This includes applications for grants of probate, letters of administration (intestacy/with the will), reseals and exemplifications; drafting and lodgement of property transmissions/transfers; superannuation death benefit claims and disputes; attending to the distribution, including appropriation, of estate assets to beneficiaries; advising on beneficiaries’ rights to information, estate accounts and distribution; and advising on and attending to executor commission and passing and assessing of estate accounts applications.
Bianca has extensive experience in estate litigation. Her practice includes family provision claims (contesting and defending of wills/estates); will validity dispute matters; informal will, rectification and construction applications; advising on executor/administrator’s misconduct and executor/administrator removal applications; and statutory will applications.
Bianca understands the complexities of family dynamics and strives to provide tailored advice that suits each client’s individual circumstances. Her expertise enables her to guide her clients through difficult times by ensuring their matter is dealt with smoothly and efficiently. She is passionate about helping clients achieve the best possible outcomes.
Work highlights
Examples of matters Bianca has acted and advised in include:
- Intricate estate planning for high net worth clients with diverse corporate structures and entities
- Assisting executors with complex estate administration matters, involving multi-jurisdictional assets and beneficiaries
- Informal will applications involving handwritten notes and DIY wills
- Family provision claims (contesting of wills), where they have been left no provision or inadequate provision under a will, successfully obtaining life-changing outcomes
- Will validity dispute matters, where there are concerns about the deceased’s capacity to prepare a will, lack of knowledge and approval and/or undue influence, successfully resolving a number of cases without the need for protracted litigation
- Defending and upholding the provisions and entitlements under the will for executors and beneficiaries
- Contesting superannuation death benefit claims
- Executor misconduct and acting for clients in executor removal applications.
Professional background
