Laura Hanrahan

Special Counsel

Qualifications: LLB, BH

Practices

Laura works with families to provide tailored personal and business succession solutions. Her tailored succession planning includes drafting complex wills, testamentary trusts, enduring powers of attorney, discretionary trusts, self managed superannuation trusts, binding death benefit nominations and deeds of family arrangement.

Laura also practices in the administration of deceased estates, guardianship and administration disputes, estate and trust disputes.

Every family is different and Laura enjoys using her creativity to help clients create a succession plan which works for them.

Experience

  • Advising and drafting complex wills, enduring powers of attorney and superannuation death benefit nominations.
  • Assisting a farming family with their family business succession where one child was on the farm and other two children were off farm.
  • Advised an elderly client who wanted to protect her estate from a potential estate dispute and in particular transfer the family farm to her child during her lifetime.
  • Assisting a multi generational cattle grazing family business with their family business succession.
  • Advising an international charity as the sole residuary beneficiary with the administration of a deceased estate with complex assets and a lay person executor.
  • Assisting in the successful reappointed of a guardian for an adult by the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal. This was a complex matter where the adult’s capacity was in question and the reappointment was being challenged.
  • Assisted a client successfully defend a family provision claim and a further application for disclosure pursuant to the terms of a mutual will agreement. Forster v Forster [2022] QSC 30 and Forster v Forster (No 2) QSC 52.

Awards and recognition

Best Lawyers in Australia 2025
Recognised – Superannuation Law, Trusts and Estates and Wealth Management / Succession Planning Practice
Best Lawyers in Australia 2020-2024
Trusts and Estates and Wealth Management / Succession Planning Practice
Doyle's Guide 2021-2023
Wills, estates and succession planning lawyers (QLD)

Professional Membership

  • Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (member since 2011)
  • Self Managed Superannuation Fund Association (member since 2010)
  • The Tax Institute (Associate Member)

Latest thinking

Private Clients | 9 Feb 2024

Trusts: to vary or not to vary

We outline the key issues if you’re considering varying or amending a trust deed, and provide some practical examples.