Rod Genders is a senior Australian lawyer specialising in Wills and Estate Planning, Probate and Estate Administration, Trusts and Guardianship and Inheritance Claims and Contested Estates in South Australia. His boutique specialist law firm, which was founded on 1848, is one of the oldest and most respected in Australia. Rod is an international author and speaker. Rod is the 3rd generation of Genders in the law and has been practising specialised law since the mid 80’s. He has acted as counsel or consultant to in excess of 50 other firms around Australia. Rod holds the SA state record for the highest ever personal injury award of damages, and has been involved in several of the largest personal injury claims in Australian legal history. For over 10 years he served on the Council of the Law Society of South Australia and is a senior member of its Succession Law Committee. Rod was a founding committee member of the South Australian branch of the London-based Society of Trusts and Estate Practitioners (STEP) for 8 years and was the founding Chair of the international STEP Digital Assets Special Interest Group. For over 25 years Rod has chaired a private committee enquiring into the affairs of protected persons. He is a member of the Law Council of Australia, and a member of its Succession and Elder Law Committee.

Genders and Partners | Probate and Estate Administration - Lawyer Adelaide

Probate and Estate Administration Adelaide: Some Interesting Cases

Estate Planning: Some Interesting Cases

Hornby v Cavenagh

Supreme Court of NSW

This was a claim under the New South Wales equivalent of the Inheritance (Family Provision) Act. The plaintiff was a niece of the deceased and sought to show that she was an eligible person to make a claim under the Act. To satisfy the requirement of an eligible person, the plaintiff had to show that there was some dependency on the deceased, and that she was a member of the deceased’s household.

Although the plaintiff had resided in the same household as the deceased for four years during the 1980s and was partly dependent on the deceased in this time, the relationship in the last 12 years of the deceased’s life was not close.

Genders and Partners

Wills and Estate Planning Adelaide: More Adelaide Pet Owners Include Animals in Their Wills

Genders and Partners

Senior lawyer specialising in estate planning and Wills in Adelaide.

Rod Genders from Genders and Partners, the oldest law firm in South Australia, says that state law does not permit animals to be direct beneficiaries of a Will, as the law regards the animals themselves as property.

However, caring pet owners can leave money for their pets in pet trusts with provisions for how it is to be spent on the pet.

As our population ages and fewer couples have children, there has been an attitude shift where many people have come to view their animals less as pets and more as members of the family.

Genders and Partners

Accident Compensation Lawyer Adelaide: How to Make a Successful Accident Injury Claim in Adelaide

How to Make a Successful Accident Injury Claim in Adelaide

Accident injury claims in Adelaide are a lot more complex and difficult than they used to be. The South Australian government changed the compensation laws and procedures on 1st July 2013.  Many potential claims will be affected by the changes, and some people could be misled into believing they no longer have a claim at all.

The first thing you should do is seek the advice of a senior lawyer who specialises in accident injury claims, who can help you get just compensation for the harm inflicted upon you and your family.

Every year, thousands of people in Adelaide and from all over South Australia are caught up in accidents. Hundreds of these result to deaths, while thousands more result in a wide range of personal injury. Regardless of the cause, if you are the victim of some form of injury, you owe it to your family to take advice about your options for fair and equitable compensation for the damage done to you.

Genders and Partners

Wills and Estate Planning Adelaide: The Right Advice Can Make All the Difference

Wills-and-Estate-Planning-Adelaide-The-Right -Advice-Can-Make-All-the-Difference

Many people mistakenly believe that having a simple legal Will covers all their needs, yet it’s only one piece of the legal protection puzzle. Without proper estate planning, you’re leaving your wealth and assets quite vulnerable and unprotected.

In some circumstances, it can mean the difference between having your wealth distributed the way you want, or having it given to those you don’t want anything to do with anymore. Or it may even be the difference between losing your home and keeping it, when unexpected events arise, like an accident that leaves you alive but incapacitated.

Even if you have a legal Will, that’s only one piece of the puzzle to protect you, your family and your assets. Without an integrated and up-to-date estate plan, you are gambling with your future.

Genders and Partners

Wills and Estate Planning Adelaide: Kids Growing Up

As a parent, what is our worst fear?

Kids Growing Up

For most of us, it would be receiving that phone call telling us that our child is having a medical emergency. It might be a car accident, or some other health crisis, but as soon as we are notified we want to rush into action to help them.  No matter how old they are, they will always be our child, even if they are now an adult.

It used to be that when a child turned 21, he would receive a key to the front-door of the family home, in a rite-of-passage symbolising and acknowledging their transition from child to adult.

With the faster pace of life, and changing societal expectations, the legal age-of-majority is now18.

Did you know that if your children are aged 18 or older, even if they are still living at home with you, then you are no longer able to make their medical decisions for them? In fact, you have no right to speak with their doctor or nurses or see their medical records.