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Inheritance

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The final paper trail: How to make your executor’s job easier

Where there’s a will, there’s an executor – the person who manages your estate when you’ve died. Who do you choose for this important role, and how can you help smooth their way?

  • Madeleine Heffernan

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Controversial billionaire Pierre-Edouard Stérin

French billionaire pleads for Napoleonic law change so he can disinherit his children

Controversial billionaire Pierre-Edouard Sterin, who has been labelled the “French Elon Musk”, is calling for changes to the law.

  • Tara Patel and Ania Nussbaum
Your notes app is a useful place to jot down all sorts of ideas – just not your will.

Want your last wishes honoured? Don’t draft your will in your Notes app

While it might be tempting to consider leaving the legalities for “later on”, there are good reasons why you shouldn’t attempt to prepare your will yourself.

  • Emma Blay
Graham Richardson, pictured also with his daughter Kate, at the NSW Labor conference in 1994.

Graham Richardson’s final vanishing act: A penniless estate

His daughter has spoken about the Labor kingmaker’s fractured family and how the only remaining assets in his estate included a Lexus and two mysterious wedding rings.

  • Harriet Alexander
The agreement was struck at Top Ryde Shopping Centre.

How a handshake deal between friends at a Sydney shopping centre delivered one $8m

The two men made an inheritance pact that would be fought over in court more than a decade later.

  • Michaela Whitbourn
There are ways to help your kids without having to pass on property.

Three ways to help your kids without a property inheritance

Not every parent is in a situation where they can afford to pass on property. But there are other ways to help your kids out if you start early.

  • Victoria Devine
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Unfortunately, even once you pass, you still have to answer to the tax man.

Will my kids have to pay a ‘death tax’ on my super?

There are ways to avoid the so-called “death tax”, but if you get the timing wrong, your returns could suffer.

  • Paul Benson
Angela Bacares Lynch and Mike Lynch.

The widow of ‘Britain’s Bill Gates’ targeted in hunt for $1.7 billion

Mike Lynch died alongside his daughter and five others when his superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily in 2024. Now a tech giant has zeroed in on his widow.

  • Matthew Field
Bianca Hancock and her brother John (left) have long been at odds with their mother Gine Rinehart.

Gina Rinehart’s son offered an olive branch. He got fighting words in return

All parties have claimed victory in a court battle over Gina Rinehart’s mining billions. But hopes for a thawing of relations within the family remain distant.

  • Kishor Napier-Raman
A testamentary trust for each of your children may be of value here to protect what you pass on.

I’m 58 with terminal cancer. How can I maximise my kids’ inheritance?

If leaving a legacy for your children is important to you, there are a few key things to get across before you go.

  • Paul Benson