Juliet O’Brien

Senior Associate

Qualifications: LLB, BEc

Practices

Juliet has close to 20 years’ of wide ranging experience working in the legal profession. Prior to joining Hall & Wilcox she worked at other large law firms in Melbourne and then as a senior in-house counsel at one of Australia’s largest corporations for a number of years, providing commercial, litigious and trade practices advice.

Juliet now specialises in helping clients work through and achieve their estate and succession planning goals.

Juliet is particularly interested in helping individuals, couples and families with their personal succession planning and is focused on assisting her clients through what can often be a sensitive and challenging process.

Juliet also has experience working with vulnerable beneficiaries, whether as a result of a disability or some other form of vulnerability, particularly in relation to the establishment of special disability trusts.

Juliet has worked with a broad range of clients, from those with young families to some of Australia’s largest family groups, as well as business owners and people transitioning into retirement. Her experience at Hall & Wilcox, coupled with her own life experience in raising her own family, has provided Juliet with a practical insight into a broad range of issues that can arise at all stages in life.

Experience

  • Providing advice regarding estate planning arrangements including Wills and testamentary trusts, superannuation and life insurance and powers of attorney and establishment of special disability trusts.
  • Advising clients on intergenerational wealth transfer, including family agreements and constitutions.
  • Advising beneficiaries of their rights and entitlements under Wills and estates.
  • Advising on estate administration and attaining appropriate grants in respect to both Australian and international estates.
  • Trust succession, interpretation and ongoing administration, including variations, vesting issues, adding and removing beneficiaries and future control and decision making of trusts.
  • Estate litigation including claims for further provision from estates and claims for executor's commission.

Professional Membership

  • Law Institute of Victoria

Latest thinking

Private Clients | 26 Jul 2023

Incapacity: don’t get caught out before capacity fades

If you, your loved one or your client loses the capacity to make decisions for themselves, and important measures such as Wills and powers of attorney have not been put in place, matters become unnecessarily complicated.