Our expertise

Succession Planning, Estate Litigation and Trusts

Our litigation experience informs our planning work and allows us to take a risk aware and strategic approach to succession and estate matters. By understanding how and why succession arrangements are challenged, we help clients put structures in place that are robust, defensible, and fit for their long term objectives.

Succession Planning

We advise individuals, families, trustees and business owners on the design and implementation of succession arrangements for businesses and family wealth. Our succession planning work is practical and commercially focused, with an emphasis on preserving value, managing inter‑generational transition, and reducing the risk of future disputes. We work closely with clients and their advisers to ensure succession arrangements are aligned with governance, control, and long‑term objectives.

Trusts

A practical overview of how trust structures operate in practice, with a focus on control, governance and the risks that arise when trusts are poorly understood or administered.

We have extensive experience advising on discretionary and other trust structures as part of succession planning and estate administration, as well as in their own right.

Our work includes:

  • Reviewing and pressure‑testing trust deeds and associated documentation
  • Advising on the scope of trustee and appointor powers and any limitations imposed by the trust instrument, including the role of a guardian where applicable
  • Preparing trust documentation, including amendments, variations, appointments of officeholders and appointments of capital

We regularly advise trustees (and, where appropriate, beneficiaries) on past and proposed trust actions, changes in control and office holdings, distributions of income, vesting of capital, and the integration of trust arrangements into broader succession and estate plans.

We also assist clients to identify and manage the risk of invalid or ineffective exercises of trust powers before those issues give rise to disputes.

Estate Litigation

When succession outcomes are contested, we act in estate, trust and succession‑related disputes. We regularly advise and represent executors, trustees and beneficiaries in proceedings arising from the administration of estates, including responding to challenges to wills and succession outcomes, as well as acting for family members seeking to challenge those arrangements.

Our Expertise

  • Succession planning for family businesses, farming enterprises and closely held corporate groups
  • Structuring and documenting wills, trusts and corporate arrangements to support orderly succession
  • Integrating discretionary and other trust arrangements into broader succession planning strategies
  • Advising on governance, control, and decision‑making frameworks for inter‑generational transition
  • Working collaboratively with clients’ accountants and other tax advisers to support tax and duties‑effective succession outcomes
  • Identifying succession‑related risk and implementing dispute‑avoidance strategies
  • Acting in estate, trust, and succession‑related litigation, including responding to challenges to wills and succession outcomes

For Estate Planning and Estate Disputes matters, please contact Principal, Shemali Samaraweera.