NEWS

A will made on an iPhone has been declared valid in a recent appeal. In Wheatley v Peek [2025] NSWCA 265, the court confirmed that the iPhone note should in fact be treated as the deceased’s will and the original decision in Peek v Wheatley [2025] NSWSC 554 be reversed. Matthew Burgess, director of View Legal, said this decision re-confirms that courts can recognise informal statements as valid testamentary documents if it can be proven that the deceased intended the relevant

Despite being reliant on their parent(s) through a chronic illness and subsequent disability that prevented them from working, a beneficiary has been determined not to be a death benefits dependant. In a recent private binding ruling (1052395100997) the commissioner found the beneficiary applicant was not in an interdependent relationship nor qualified as a death benefit dependent because they did not have a close personal relationship nor commitment to a shared life prior to

A student receiving Youth Allowance and payments from a parent does not qualify as being a financial dependent in regard to superannuation death benefit. In a recent Private Binding Ruling (1052451473448), the commissioner said despite being subsidised by parent before their death, the beneficiary is not a death benefits dependant of the deceased in accordance with section 302-195 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997). The facts of the ruling state the beneficiary