Mid Session Client Legal Advice - Equity & Trusts - Law Assignment Help

Assignment Task

Task: Prepare a written advice responding to the Client Instructions below on mock letterhead. An example of a letter of advice to a client has been posted on Canvas, and you should adopt the format of the example in your own letter.

Client Instructions
Don Orr is an elderly retiree who has been living in an aged care home since he had a fall in January 2019. He is the registered owner of a house in St Ives, worth about $4 million, and his daughter Betty is presently living in the home. In 2019, when Don first took up residence in the aged care home, he said to Betty, ‘I won’t need my big house any more so it is all yours now’. Betty asked him to transfer title of the house to her, but Don said that he did not want to pay stamp duty on the transfer, so he took no steps to transfer title. Betty has paid the council rates on the property, and has spent about $20,000 on essential repairs to the house, since she moved into the house in February 2019. 
Don also has a son, Frank, who is a property developer. In November 2020, Frank visited Don in the aged care home. Frank told Don that he was in desperate need of some short term finance to complete a project, but the lender would not release any funds unless Frank could provide a guarantor for the loan. Frank said to Don: ‘It is only for $100,000, Dad. I will be able to repay the loan when the project is completed, by the end of this year.’ Frank presented Don with a document naming 
Ready Finance Pty Ltd as the party to whom the guarantee was given. Don signed the document without reading it, and Frank witnessed Don’s signature himself. In February 2021, Don received a letter of demand from Ready Finance Pty Ltd, requiring him to pay a sum of $600,000, on the basis that Frank had defaulted on his loan. 
Don also has a grandchild, Lee (child of Frank). Lee is a university student with no income, so Don decided that the most tax effective way to help Lee with fees and living expenses was to assign to Lee the income from some of Don’s investments. Don held a large parcel of Megabank Ltd shares. Don gave Lee a signed note saying ‘I, Don Orr, hereby assign to you, Lee Orr, the dividends on my whole parcel of Megabank Ltd shares.’ 
Don is also a beneficiary in the deceased estate of his father, Eric. The executor of the estate is Earnest, and Earnest still had some work to do to complete administration of the estate when Don phoned Earnest and said, ‘Please distribute any interest I have in Eric’s deceased estate to my grandchild, Lee.’ 
On 8 March 2021, Don decided to leave the aged care home. He has begun a relationship with a nurse, Stella, whom he met while in the home, and has decided he wants to return to live in his St Ives home with Stella. Don has come to you for advice on the following problems: 
BettyclaimsthatsheistheowneroftheStIveshomenowandhas threatened to bring proceedings against Don to require him to transfer title to the house to her. Don wants to know if Betty has a legitimate claim to the house. 
ReadyFinancePtyLtdhascommencedproceedingsintheDistrictCourtfor recovery of the money it claims Don owes under the guarantee. Don wants to know if he will be obliged to pay Ready Finance Pty Ltd. 
Leehaswithdrawnfromuniversitystudies,soDonwantstoknowifhecan now revoke his gifts of the Megabank dividends and the interest in Eric’s deceased estate

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