Package Fee (incl GST)

• $298 - NZLS members and Associate members (usually $389)
• $358 - Non-members (usually $479)

Note: Access to the online files is via your "My CPD" page. If you would like to purchase multiple packages, please contact us here.

Online CPD Modules

Capacity - a practical perspective - 1.5 CPD hours

• Publication date: May 2016
• Authors: Mark Dobson, Dr Anthony Duncan

An understanding of mental capacity and the medical conditions that can impact upon the capacity of older clients are an increasingly important part of family law practice. These factors include the increasing number of elderly in the population, the complex web of intergenerational relationships now prevalent in society and the significant asset disparity between many elderly and their descendants and step-descendants.

Mental capacity is pivotal in decision making about personal care and welfare, and financial and dispositional matters.
This module will focus primarily on these capacity related issues in regard to the elderly. However, as questions about capacity can arise in adults of any age, in both family and criminal law contexts, it will have considerable relevance to all practitioners.

• How do you communicate to your client that you have concerns about their capacity?
• What is the capacity required to sign an EPA or write a new will in practice.
• Working with medical practitioners and clinical psychologist on capacity matters.
• Issues in retrospective assessments of capacity.

Estate Administration in the 21st Century - 1.5 CPD hours

• Publication date: July 2015
• Authors: Jacqui Beilby, Penelope Stevenson

New Zealand’s laws enacted to deal with inheritance rights and claims against estates contemplated more conventional family structures than we see today. Now with second and subsequent relationships, families are frequently reconstituted. On the death of a family member, multiple property claims may arise for an estate from different categories of claimants within the reconstituted family.

In this module the presenters will discuss practical options for dealing with diverse family structures, getting on top of the timeframes and provide a roadmap for working with diverse claims that may arise under the Property (Relationships) Act 1976 and Family Protection Act 1955.

• What’s new
• What you need to be aware of when advising your client about a possible claim
• What are the executor/administrator’s roles and responsibilities
• Practical points to consider when distributing an estate and timeframes.

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Residential Care Subsidy - MSD policy and legal developments - 1 CPD hour

• Publication date: March 2014
• Author: Theresa Donnelly, Richard Lang

There have been a number of contentious policy and legal developments in this area of trust law – especially in regard to the asset and income tests for the Residential Care Subsidy. These developments are now influencing how lawyers must advise their clients in relation to the formation of family trusts and the structure of gifting programmes.

By using various scenarios, the presenters will look at the tests and the impact they have on gifting and trusts including:

• background and rules in relation to eligibility criteria for the Residential Care Subsidy
• incomes – trusts and MSD expectations as to income
• structuring family trust gifting programmes for clients in the light of legal developments in relation to the Residential Care Subsidy - and the underlying purpose of family trusts
• what to do about completed gifting programmes where they affect eligibility for the Residential Care Subsidy
• parallel trusts – consideration of whether they are really the way forward
• trust reversals – how to unwind family trusts to preserve eligibility for the Residential Care Subsidy
• developing law from the Social Security Appeal Authority and the Court of Appeal.

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