Many in retirement are travelling comfortably, with three key factors contributing to their happiness – good physical and mental health and enough money to enjoy life.
Perhaps the assumption that markets are still anchored by predictable economic policies needs to be challenged. For the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall, political volatility – once background noise – is potentially reshaping investment risk at a structural level.
Uncertainty over abstract artist’s will sparks legal battle
A bitter NSW Supreme Court row over a Sydney abstract artist’s $24 million bequest of real estate, art and cash highlights the importance of keeping a will that accurately reflects your final wishes, according to lawyers.
Mimi Milka Berger, who died aged 86, had made several wills during her final years, including one that had been torn apart and then painstakingly put back together with sticking tape.
But uncertainty about Berger’s final intentions led to competing claims by family, church and friends she described as “soul mates”.
Andrew Meiliunas (pictured), a lawyer and associate director of Nevett Ford, says the best way to avoid expensive legal action over estates is to have an updated will that is legally valid and reflects evolving circumstances, such as a change in marital status, new family members, changing relationships or variations in the value of assets.
Meiliunas adds: “Also, keep it in a safe location, such as a solicitor’s deed room, deposit box or safe.”
DIY wills, or last-minute changes, can have expensive consequences because they raise the possibility of failing to meet legal requirements such as being signed by two witnesses, and increase the likelihood of a prior will unintentionally being revoked.
In addition, make sure executors (who are appointed by the person making the will to administer their wishes) know where to find the original document.
Yugoslav-born Berger, who had won more than 70 awards for her water colour paintings, was divorced, had no children and was predeceased by her parents and six siblings. She died in November 2022.
She signed a will and codicil – an amendment to a will – leaving her residuary estate to her niece and grand-nephew. The original will could not be found, only a copy.
The court was told that in her final two decades she had engaged three solicitors to make several wills, including an “original” which had been torn up and reassembled with sticking tape.
There was no evidence as to who tore it up, when, or who put it back together, or when, the court was told.
Berger’s original will stated she would give a “monetary gift” to her neighbours Srdja and Gordana Jankovic, with the remainder of the estate to go to the Serbian Orthodox Church.
In 2015, this was amended to give her artworks and estate to her niece Bozica Dundjerski and grand-nephew, Dusko Dundjerski.
In 2022, while in hospital, she wrote a note to say she also wanted to leave her $2 million townhouse to the Jankovics, but failed to add this to a new will she allegedly intended to make before her death.
“We are spiritually connected,” she is alleged to have told her neighbours while recuperating in hospital with a broken arm in her final months. “During almost 30 years of our friendship, you were here for me.”
Lawyers advise that a will is presumed to be revoked where it is known to be in a will-maker, or testator’s, possession when they died but cannot be located.
But the presumption can be rebutted if the facts suggest otherwise, such as the original will was lost, or unintentionally discarded not knowing it was the original document.
David Hammerschlag, NSW chief justice (equity), ruled: “The codicil, read together with the will, reflect the deceased’s intention stated on a number of occasions.”
He ruled the copy of the will should be accepted and that the note gifting the Surry Hills property to the neighbours were her final wish.
