The Hills District
Wills and estates lawyers in the Hills District
We are a Hills District wills and estates practice, based in Bella Vista in the Norwest Business Park, a minute from the Metro. We prepare wills and estate plans for Hills families and we obtain grants of probate for Hills executors. You deal with a principal of the firm from the first call.
Alicia Catron 0407 171 626 or Michelle Simmons 0407 534 594. Suite 3.13, 33 Lexington Drive, Bella Vista NSW 2153. Free on site parking.
How we help
Estate work divides into two halves: putting your affairs in order while you can, and administering an estate after someone has died. We do both, and for many Hills families we end up doing the second for a will we prepared years earlier.
Wills and estate planning
Straightforward wills, mirror wills for couples, and complex wills using testamentary trusts where there is a business, a blended family or a beneficiary who needs protecting.
Powers of attorney
Enduring powers of attorney so someone you trust can deal with your finances if you cannot. Usually prepared at the same appointment as your will.
Enduring guardianship
Appointing someone to make health and lifestyle decisions for you. A separate document from a power of attorney, and the one families most often discover is missing.
Probate
Obtaining the grant and administering the estate for executors, including selling or transferring the family home. Fixed scale fees, ordinarily paid from the estate.
Letters of administration
Where there is no will, or the named executor cannot act. We deal with the intestacy rules and the additional evidence the court expects.
Estate disputes
Family provision claims and challenges to validity, acting for claimants and for executors defending the estate.
Why local matters here
Estate work in the Hills has its own shape
Most of what we see in this district comes back to the same few things: property that has appreciated enormously, family businesses, self managed super, and households where the parents bought in the eighties or nineties and the children have bought nearby.
- The house is the estate. In much of Castle Hill, Baulkham Hills and Glenhaven the family home dwarfs everything else. That makes an equal division between children genuinely difficult where one of them wants to keep the property, and it needs to be dealt with in the will rather than left to the executor to negotiate.
- Granny flats and adult children living at home. Very common here, and a frequent source of estate claims. A child who moved back to care for a parent, or who contributed to a granny flat build, often has a stronger position than the family expects.
- Family businesses and trusts. Assets held in a trust or a company do not pass under a will at all. What matters is who controls the structure afterwards, and that is a separate piece of drafting.
- Self managed super funds. Control of the fund after a member dies is governed by the deed, not the will. We check that the two do not contradict each other.
- Blended families. Second marriages with children from an earlier relationship are the most common source of estate litigation we see, and mirror wills are usually the wrong answer for them.
- Downsizing. Selling the family home and moving to a villa or into a retirement village changes the estate plan, and the paperwork that comes with a village contract is worth having looked at before it is signed.
Why Hills clients use us
You deal with a principal
Two principal solicitors, both admitted to the Supreme Court of NSW. Your matter is not handed down to a different paralegal each time you call.
We are five minutes away
Bella Vista, a minute’s walk from Bella Vista Metro, with free parking on site. For most of the Hills that is a short drive or one or two Metro stops.
We come to you where needed
Where a client is in hospital, in aged care or too unwell to attend, we make arrangements to see them. Wills are frequently needed at short notice and we treat those as urgent.
Fixed fees on wills
Wills, powers of attorney and enduring guardianship appointments are quoted as a fixed fee from the first call. Probate is charged on the regulated scale for straightforward estates.
Safe custody
We hold your original will in safe custody for a one off nominal fee, with nothing payable afterwards, so your executor knows exactly where to find it.
The whole file in one place
We also do the conveyancing, so where an estate has to sell or transfer a property, or a downsize triggers a new will, it is handled by the same office.
Suburbs we act for
We act for clients across The Hills Shire and the surrounding area, including Bella Vista, Norwest, Baulkham Hills, Castle Hill, Kellyville, North Kellyville, Kellyville Ridge, Beaumont Hills, Rouse Hill, Glenhaven, Dural, Kenthurst, Annangrove, Box Hill, Winston Hills, West Pennant Hills, Cherrybrook, Stanhope Gardens and Glenwood, and more widely across Blacktown, Parramatta and the Hawkesbury.
Probate and estate applications are made in the Supreme Court in Sydney regardless of where you live, so there is no local court advantage in an estate matter. What being local does mean is that you can drop in the original will rather than post it, sign in person without a day off work, and reach the solicitor who prepared the document rather than a call centre.
Not sure whether we cover your suburb? Call and ask. We act throughout New South Wales.
Getting to our office
- By Metro. One minute’s walk from Bella Vista station on the Sydney Metro Northwest, one or two stops from Kellyville, Rouse Hill, Norwest and Castle Hill.
- By car. A few minutes from Old Windsor Road or Norwest Boulevard, with free parking on site.
- By phone or video. We take instructions for a will by phone or video where that suits you better, and you attend only to sign.
- After hours. Evening and weekend appointments by arrangement, and we are contactable outside business hours.
Questions we are asked locally
Where is probate applied for if we live in the Hills?
In the Supreme Court of New South Wales in Sydney. There is no Hills registry and no local court involvement in an estate application, so where you live makes no difference to the process. It is filed electronically, which means you do not attend court at all in a straightforward matter.
How quickly can I get an appointment for a will?
Usually within one or two business days. Where someone is unwell or going into hospital we treat it as urgent and will see them the same day where we can, including at the hospital or at home.
My parent has died and the house is in Castle Hill. What do we do first?
Find the original will, and check how the property is held on title. If it was held as joint tenants with a surviving spouse, no grant is needed and the title is dealt with by a notification of death. If your parent was the sole owner, a grant of probate is almost certainly required before the property can be sold or transferred. Bring us the will and a recent rates notice and we will tell you which it is.
Do you hold the original will?
Yes, for a one off nominal fee, and we give you a copy for your records. If a family member has died and you think we may have prepared their will, call us and we will check.
What does a will cost?
A fixed fee, quoted before we start. A straightforward will, or a pair of mirror wills for a couple, sits at the lower end. A will involving a testamentary trust, a family business or a blended family costs more because there is considerably more work in it.
Can you help if the estate is in dispute?
Yes. We act for executors defending an estate and for eligible people bringing a family provision claim. There is a twelve month time limit from the date of death, so if a claim is on your mind, do not wait to take advice.
Do you also do the conveyancing if the estate has to sell?
Yes, and it is usually simpler to keep it in one office. The grant, the transmission of the title into the executor’s name and the sale all connect, and splitting them across two firms tends to add delay rather than save anything.
What if the person lived in the Hills but owned property interstate or overseas?
That changes the approach. Property in another state usually needs the NSW grant to be resealed there. Assets overseas depend entirely on the country. We have acted in cross border estates and will map out what each jurisdiction requires before you start spending money.
Talk to a Hills estate lawyer
Whether you have been meaning to make a will for years or you are an executor holding a folder of paperwork you did not ask for, one call will tell you what is involved and what it will cost.
Alicia Catron 0407 171 626 or Michelle Simmons 0407 534 594. Suite 3.13, 33 Lexington Drive, Bella Vista NSW 2153, one minute from Bella Vista Metro. Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, and contactable outside those hours.