Hope Island is one of the Gold Coast’s most exclusive suburbs. Home to an enclave of exclusive housing estates, such as Sanctuary Cove and Hope Island Resort, with several world class golf courses meandering in between.
The property website Domain are currently running a series of articles on selling a property, covering aspects from presentation and market advise, to sales tactics and the conveyancing process itself.
Brisbane came alive this weekend for the annual Teneriffe Festival. The streets were lined with a festival of food, markets and entertainment.
So you’ve spent countless weekends scouring the suburbs of Brisbane, or the Gold Coast for that perfect property and you think you’ve finally found ‘the one’ and are ready to put in an offer and sign a contract of sale. It’s right about now that you need to tap the brakes every so slightly. There’s no point rushing in and signing your name, as the entire conveyancing process will be dictated by this contract, so you want to make sure you’ve got it right before signing.
So you’ve had your property on the market for a while and have now signed a contract of sale and sold your property. First of all congratulations on the sale! While getting that offer may be exciting at first, we’re sure that a bit of stress is beginning to creep into your mind as you start to consider the long list of things you now have to take care.
This may seem like a title designed to catch your eye, but have little substance, but that is not at all the case when the truth about retirement villages on the Gold Coast is revealed. Do you really want to spend your twilight years in a retirement village where power struggles lead to hospitalization, late night vistors are a common occurrence, or drug labs are being operated next door?
"One small fact: You are going to die," Death says in the opening of The Book Thief. "Despite every effort, no one lives forever." If you've come to terms with that (or have at least thought of death at one time or another), perhaps you've prepared for the inevitable by getting insured, saving up for those you're leaving behind and writing up a last will and testament. These days, though, you also need to decide what will happen to your online life after death. What can you do to prepare for it, and what can you do to help if someone close to you passes away?
In most cases for a Will to be valid in Australia it is required to be a written document that is signed by the testator in the presence of two or more witnesses. While it is always preferable to have a Will constructed in this way, the legislation that exists in Queensland does allow for the courts to dispense with these formal requirements in certain circumstances and admit what is termed an ‘informal will’.
If you believe that you were left out of a loved one’s Will, or that they did not make adequate provision for you then there are steps you can take to challenge it. The first step to would be to bring a ‘Family Provision Application’ (“FPA”), which is a challenge against the estate disputing the distribution of the contents of the Will. Usually an FPA is filed when due to certain circumstances a family member has decided not to leave anything to a person, or leaves them with too little.
