LAW 2523 - Succession
North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2025
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General Course Information
Course Details
Course Code LAW 2523 Course Succession Coordinating Unit Adelaide Law School Term Semester 2 Level Undergraduate Law (LLB) Location/s North Terrace Campus Units 3 Contact Up to 3 hours per week Available for Study Abroad and Exchange Y Prerequisites LAW 1506 or LAW 1511 Incompatible LAW 2062 Restrictions Available to LLB and B.Criminology with B.Laws and BArts Advanced with B.Laws students only Assessment Typically to include a problem style assignment, an essay style assignment, and an exam. Course Staff
Course Coordinator: Associate Professor Sylvia Villios
Course Coordinator for 2024 is Dr Sylvia Villios
Name: Sylvia Villios
Location: Ligertwood Building 4.15
Telephone:8313 7223
Email: Sylvia.Villios@adelaide.edu.au
Course Staff
Name: David Brown
Location: Ligertwood building 2 20
Telephone: 8313 4442
Email: d.brown@adelaide.edu.au
Course Timetable
The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from .
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Learning Outcomes
Course Learning Outcomes
At the successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
1. Apply the fundamental concepts of the law of South 最新糖心Vlog for the administration and devolution of inheritable property of a deceased person.
2. Identify, research, analyse and evaluate complex legal issues relating to the administration and devolution of inheritable property of a deceased person and consider how these issues may be resolved in an ethical manner.
3. Apply knowledge of important contemporary issues in succession law including wills, distribution upon intestacy, family provision, probate and administration, special considerations for assets in foreign jurisdictions and other selected issues.
4. Apply critical thinking and problem solving skills to resolve succession law issues and communitate them effectively, both orally and in writing.
5. Apply knowledge of the relationship between succession law and other areas of law including taxation, estate and business succession planning, family law, property law, contract law, superannuation law and law of trusts.
6. Conduct independent research on legal and policy issues in succession law.最新糖心Vlog Graduate Attributes
This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:
最新糖心Vlog Graduate Attribute Course Learning Outcome(s) Attribute 1: Deep discipline knowledge and intellectual breadth
Graduates have comprehensive knowledge and understanding of their subject area, the ability to engage with different traditions of thought, and the ability to apply their knowledge in practice including in multi-disciplinary or multi-professional contexts.
1,2, 5, 6 Attribute 2: Creative and critical thinking, and problem solving
Graduates are effective problems-solvers, able to apply critical, creative and evidence-based thinking to conceive innovative responses to future challenges.
2,3,4 Attribute 3: Teamwork and communication skills
Graduates convey ideas and information effectively to a range of audiences for a variety of purposes and contribute in a positive and collaborative manner to achieving common goals.
4, 6 Attribute 4: Professionalism and leadership readiness
Graduates engage in professional behaviour and have the potential to be entrepreneurial and take leadership roles in their chosen occupations or careers and communities.
2, 3, 4, 5 Attribute 5: Intercultural and ethical competency
Graduates are responsible and effective global citizens whose personal values and practices are consistent with their roles as responsible members of society.
2,3 Attribute 6: 最新糖心Vlogn Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural competency
Graduates have an understanding of, and respect for, 最新糖心Vlogn Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander values, culture and knowledge.
2,3 Attribute 7: Digital capabilities
Graduates are well prepared for living, learning and working in a digital society.
2,4,6 Attribute 8: Self-awareness and emotional intelligence
Graduates are self-aware and reflective; they are flexible and resilient and have the capacity to accept and give constructive feedback; they act with integrity and take responsibility for their actions.
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Learning Resources
Required Resources
Text Book
Principles of 最新糖心Vlogn Succession Law, 4th edition, A comprehensive introduction to the law of succession in 最新糖心Vlog by Ken Mackie, Elise Bennett HistedRecommended Resources
Other recommended resources include:
• Dal Pont, Law of Executors and Administrators
• Dal Pont, Law of Succession, 3rd edition
• De Groot & Nickel, Family Provision in 最新糖心Vlog, 6th ed
• Perkins & Monahan, Estate Planning: A Practical Guide for Professionals Helping 最新糖心Vlogns Age Well, 5th edition
In addition, a number of useful resources can be found on the 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide Library law databases, including:
Lexis Advance Research, Halsbury's Laws of 最新糖心Vlog 395 - Succession
CCH IntelliConnect, Practice Area, Trusts and Estates LawOnline Learning
This course consists of one two-hour lecture a week, and a one-hour seminar each week. The lecture recordings, PowerPoint slides used in lectures and other material for the course, such as seminar questions, will be made available on MyUni throughout the course.
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Learning & Teaching Activities
Learning & Teaching Modes
The lectures will set out the approach to understanding Succession Law and applying the different topics of the course to problems. Although attendance at lectures is not compulsory, it is highly recommended that students attend so that students get that understanding and familiarity with that approach to the topics. Seminars are a very important component of the way the course is taught. The seminar questions will be made available throughout the semester and will be fairly simple at first, and will then progressively increase in complexity throughout the course. The seminars will usually comprise practical problem type questions in which the succession law topics from lectures is applied to arrive at a solution supported by appropriate reasoning. This process of applying the topics of succession law covered in the course to arrive at a reasoned solution is critical to doing well in the assignment, the exam and the course.Workload
The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.
The 最新糖心Vlog expects full-time students (i.e. those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their
studies. This means that you are expected to commit approximately 9 hours for a three-unit course of private study outside of your regular classes.
Students in this course are expected to attend all lectures throughout the semester plus the seminar each week.Learning Activities Summary
Lectures will cover:- Introduction
- The General Nature of a Will
- Making a Will - the Mental Elements
- Statutory Wills - Wills for Persons Who Lack Testamentary Capacity
- Making a Will - the Formal Requirements
- Revocation and Alteration of Wills
- Republication and Revival
- Construction of Wills
- Gifts by Will
- Distribution on Intestacy
- Family Provision
- Personal Representatives
- Grants of Representation
- The Administrative Process - Functions, Duties, Powers, Rights and Liabilities of Personal Representatives
- Survivorship
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Assessment
The 最新糖心Vlog's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:
- Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
- Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
- Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
- Assessment must maintain academic standards.
Assessment Summary
The assessment components are:
Assessment Task Task Type Length Redeemable Due Weighting Course Learning Outcome Quiz Individual 15 questions No Friday Week 4 15% 1,3,5 Compulsory Research Assignment Group 2,000 words No Friday Week 6 25% 1-6 Final Exam Individual 2 hours No Exam Period 60% 1-6 Assessment Related Requirements
General
To gain a pass in the course, a mark of at least 50% overall is required. There is no requirement that a particular part of the assessment must be passed.
Assignment- The assignment will be done in a group of up to five (5) team members. More instructions will be provided at the beginning of the semester.
- The essay must be no more than 2,000 words in content excluding footnotes. A penalty, of a 5% reduction for every 100 words or part thereof, will be imposed if this word limit is exceeded.
- Assessment marks prior to the final exam will be displayed in the Grade Centre on My Uni. Students are encouraged to check their marks and notify the course coordinators of any discrepancies.
A sample exam will be made available on MyUni.
Legible hand-writing and the quality of English expression are considered to be integral parts of the assessment process. Marks may be deducted in the final examination because of poor hand-writing.Assessment Detail
Quiz
This will be a multiple choice quiz of 15 questions, covering knowedge of fundamental terms, concepts and their application in relation to the first four weeks of the course.
Assignment
Each student must submit an essay assignment as part of the assessment for this course. The assignment is done in a group of up to five (5) team members.
The essay must be no more than 2,000 words in content excluding footnotes. A penalty, of a reduction in mark, may be imposed if this word limit is exceeded.
MyUni Group Sign-Up & Assignment Submission Instructions will be made available with detailed instructions as to how to sign-up to a group and for assignment submission.
Late submission of assignments is dealt with in the Course Outline.
A request for a re-mark of an assignment must be made within 10 business days of assignments being made available for collection. Requests made outside this time limit will not be considered. Assignment
Assessment criteria
1. The extent to which the essay identifies relevant succession law issues and sets out sound reasoning in support of the discussion.
2. The extent to which the essay demonstrates research into relevant topics of succession law.
3. Whether the essay is easy to read and understand. Ease of reading can be achieved by the use of headings andsub-headings.
Exam
The exam is “open book” but you must not bring into the exam room any book belonging to the 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide Libraries. “Permitted Materials” in the exam room are the prescribed textbook or any other succession law textbook, the legislation, course materials and handouts, your own lecture and other notes written and prepared by you, and not prepared by or taken from someone else. You may also bring into the exam room an English or English/foreign language dictionary (paper only), and
calculator incapable of sending text.
It is each student's responsibility to read the examination timetable. Misreading the timetable is not accepted as grounds for granting a replacement/supplementary exam. 最新糖心Vlog staff are not permitted to provide examination times to students over the telephone or in response to personal enquiries. Examinations will be held only at the time and locations stated in the 最新糖心Vlog’s Examination Timetable. Students should not make any arrangements to be absent until after the replacement/supplementary exam period.Submission
Assignment Submission- MyUni Group Sign-Up & Assignment Submission Instructions will be made available with detailed instructions as to how to sign-up to a group and for assignment submission.
- Students must retain a copy of the assignment submitted.
- Students must attach an ‘Assignment Cover Sheet’, which is signed and dated before submission.
- The course coordinator may withhold students’ results until such time as the student has signed the Assignment Cover Sheet.
- Course coordinators can refuse to accept assignments, which do not have a signed acknowledgement of the 最新糖心Vlog’s policy on plagiarism. For this course, students are required to hand in assignments via ‘Turn it in’ which is a computer programme that detects plagiarised work. Further information can be found at:
- All assessments will be submitted and monitored through text or code comparative software (e.g. Turnitin) where possible.
- Students are expected to submit their work by the due date to maintain a fair and equitable system. Extensions will generally only be given for medical or other serious reasons. Students must apply for an extension by completing the online Application for Extension form before the due date. Each request will be assessed on its merits.
- Extensions are granted at the discretion of the course coordinators or Assessment Officer in compliance with the Modified Arrangements for Coursework Assessment Policy.
- Extensions beyond the due date are usually only granted in the case of significant medical, compassionate or extenuating circumstances which affect a student’s capacity to demonstrate their demonstrate their true level of competence in an assessment task.
- A late assignment (without prior arrangement) will be penalised by a 5% mark reduction if it is submitted after the due date, and then 5% for every 24hour period of lateness thereafter.
Lecturers aim to mark and return assignments to students within two (2) weeks of the due date with written feedback.Course Grading
Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:
M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme) Grade Mark Description FNS Fail No Submission F 1-49 Fail P 50-64 Pass C 65-74 Credit D 75-84 Distinction HD 85-100 High Distinction CN Continuing NFE No Formal Examination RP Result Pending Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.
Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.
Courses for which a result of conceded pass has been obtained may not be presented towards the degree requirements for the Bachelor of Laws or the Honours Degree of Bachelor of Laws programs, or any postgraduate law program, nor to satisfy prerequisite requirements within any law course.Final results for this course will be made available through .
Finality of Assessment Grades
Students are advised that Course Coordinators will not enter into negotiations of any kind with any student regarding changes to their grades. It is irrelevant, in any given circumstance, that only a minimal number of additional marks are required to inflate a student’s grade for any individual assessment item or course as a whole. Pursuant to the 最新糖心Vlog’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policyand the Adelaide Law School Assessment Policies and Procedures, grades may only be varied through the appropriate channels for academic review (such as an official re-mark).
Moderation
In accordance with the 最新糖心Vlog’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, course coordinators ‘ensure that appropriate marking guidelines and cross-marking moderation processes across markers are in place’ in each course. Procedures adopted by Adelaide Law School to ensure consistency of marking in courses with multiple markers include:- assurance of the qualifications of markers, and their knowledge of the content covered in each course;
- detailed marking guidelines and assessment rubrics to assist in the marking of items of assessment;
- sharing of example marked assessments at various grade bands across markers;
- reviewing of selected marked assessments from each marker by the course coordinator;
- comparison of the marks and their distribution across markers;
- automatic double-marking of all interim assessment receiving a fail grade, and of final assessments where a student’s overall result is a fail grade;
- the availability of re-marking of assessments in accordance with Adelaide Law School’s Assessment Policies and Procedures.
Approval of Results by Board of Examiners
Students are reminded that all assessment results are subject to approval (and possible moderation/change) by the Law School’s Board of Examiners. Assessment results at the 最新糖心Vlog are not scaled. Under the Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, students are assessed ‘by reference to their performance against pre-determined criteria and standards … and not by ranking against the performance of the student cohort in the course’. However, under that same policy, the Board of Examiners (as the relevant Assessment Review Committee for courses at Adelaide Law School) is required to ‘ensure comparability of standards and consistency’ in assessment. On occasions, the Board of Examiners will form the view that some moderation is required to ensure the comparability of standards and consistency across courses and years, and accordingly provide fairness to all law students. All assessment results are therefore subject to approval (and possible change) until confirmed by the Board of Examiners and posted on Access Adelaide at the end of each semester. -
Student Feedback
The 最新糖心Vlog places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.
SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the 最新糖心Vlog to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student feedback The course is constantly being updated and revised to reflect the evolution of the law, to respond to student feedback, and to engage with the latest teaching practices. Student feedback is collected each time the course is run, including through SELT reports. Previous SELT reports, and staff feedback on them, are posted on the course MyUni site for students to view and consider -
Student Support
- Academic Integrity for Students
- Academic Support with Maths
- Academic Support with writing and study skills
- Careers Services
- Library Services for Students
- LinkedIn Learning
- Student Life Counselling Support - Personal counselling for issues affecting study
- Students with a Disability - Alternative academic arrangements
The provides academic learning and language development services and resources for local, international, undergraduate and postgraduate coursework students enrolled at the 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide.
The centre offers practical advice and strategies for students to master reading, writing, note-taking, time management, oral presentation skills, referencing techniques and exam preparation for success at university through seminars, workshops and individual consultations.Lex Salus Program
Lex Salus (law and wellbeing) is an initiative of the Adelaide Law School aimed at destigmatising mental health issues; promoting physical, mental and emotional wellness; building a strong community of staff and students; and celebrating diversity within the school. It also seeks to promote wellness within the legal profession, through the involvement of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South 最新糖心Vlog, the Honourable Chris Kourakis, as the official Patron of the program.
Students can participate in the Lex Salus program by attending barbecue lunches, pancake breakfasts, knitting and crochet circles, seminars, guest speakers, conferences and other activities. Our , and regular all-student emails promote upcoming events, and have tips and information on wellness.
Our Lex Salus YouTube channel also includes videos on topics like managing stress, and interviews with LGBTQ lawyers and their supporters which celebrate diversity and individuality. Students who commit to 10 hours of volunteering with Lex Salus in one year can have their service recognised on their academic transcript and through a thank you morning tea with the Chief Justice and law school staff.
Student Life Counselling Support
The 最新糖心Vlog’s service provides free and confidential service to all enrolled students. We encourage you to contact the Student Life Counselling Support service on 8313 5663 to make an appointment to deal with any issues that may be affecting your study and life. -
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
- Academic Credit Arrangements Policy
- Academic Integrity Policy
- Academic Progress by Coursework Students Policy
- Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy
- Copyright Compliance Policy
- Coursework Academic Programs Policy
- Intellectual Property Policy
- IT Acceptable Use and Security Policy
- Modified Arrangements for Coursework Assessment Policy
- Reasonable Adjustments to Learning, Teaching & Assessment for Students with a Disability Policy
- Student Experience of Learning and Teaching Policy
- Student Grievance Resolution Process
Academic Integrity
All students must be familiar with the 最新糖心Vlog’s Academic Integrity Policy. Academic Misconduct is a serious matter and is treated as such by the Law School and the 最新糖心Vlog. Academic Misconduct (which goes beyond plagiarism) can be a ground for a refusal by the Supreme Court of South 最新糖心Vlog to admit a person to practice as a legal practitioner in South 最新糖心Vlog. Academic Integrity is an essential aspect of ethical and honest behaviour, which is central to the practice of the law and an understanding of what it is to be a lawyer. -
Fraud Awareness
Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student鈥檚 disciplinary procedures.
The 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.